


Honeymoon

by StarGoddess



Series: Shadow 'Verse [7]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010), Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alien Technology, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Women, Canon-Typical Violence, Car Accidents, Crossover, Developing Relationship, Empathy, Established Relationship, F/M, First Kiss, Gambling, Gen, Getting Together, Goa'uld, Gun Violence, Humor, Kidnapping, M/M, Major Character Injury, Major Original Character(s), Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, Mind Control, Minor Injuries, Minor Original Character(s), Non-Consensual Drug Use, Precognition, Psychic Abilities, Sentient Atlantis, Spaceships, Spies & Secret Agents, Telepathic Bond, Undercover, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Yakuza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2018-01-24 13:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 51,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1607171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarGoddess/pseuds/StarGoddess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meeting an old friend on vacation leads to an interesting turn of events for the Five-O team and a week they'll never forget.  </p><p>“Danny Williams, Chin Ho Kelly,” John motioned to each of them, “and-”<br/>“Lieutenant Steve McGarrett,” the blonde finished for him, “Nice to meet you all. I’m EJ Sheppard.”<br/>“Lieutenant Commander, actually,” Steve’s face scrunched up in confusion, “Do I know you? You seem really familiar.”<br/>“You know him, Emma?” John asked curiously.<br/>“His SEAL team pulled me out of Afghanistan,” EJ took a small sip of her drink.<br/>“Oh, yeah?” John dropped his arm over the back of her chair, “Which time?”<br/>“The fourth time,” EJ leaned back against his arm.<br/>“Which time?” Danny asked incredulously, “You’ve had SEAL teams pull you out of Afghanistan more than once?”<br/>“Yeah, half a dozen times,” EJ replied dismissively.<br/>“I remember you now,” Steve expression twisted into a scowl, “You head-butted my Chief Petty Officer.”<br/>“You head-butted a SEAL?” John laughed.<br/>“Most of my fingers were broken at the time,” EJ shrugged, “and my legs were still tied to the chair.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set at the same time as 'Classified', one year after 'Aftermath', one year before 'Alternative'. I recommend that you read the three main stories in this series, entitled 'Chaos', 'Order', and 'Shadow' so this makes sense. Set at the end of season four in Hawaii Five-O, after Catherine leaves because I found her character somewhat useless to the series. (I'm definite McDanno fan anyway.)
> 
> This entire series ignores the Stargate: Universe canon completely (because I didn't like that series) and diverges from the Stargate: Atlantis canon presented in the post-TV show books (because I'm too lazy to read them).   
> I ninja-edit all the time, even after the story is finished, 'cause I'm neurotic like that.
> 
> Vague Disclaimer: None of the Stargate characters or terms belong to me. Or the Five-O characters. *SIGH* I am merely borrowing them for my own enjoyment.  
> Google Translate was used for all foreign languages.
> 
>  
> 
> Please enjoy the story!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a link to the eye color I had in mind for the OFC - http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs36/f/2008/248/e/a/What_Purple_Eyes_You_Have_by_Octosaur.jpg  
> And the hair - http://www.prettydesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Natural-Long-Hairstyle.jpg

“Remind me again why we’re here?” Steve spoke over the throbbing bass line of the music as they entered the nightclub.

“Because we’ve all been working hard the last couple weeks,” Chin replied with a calm smile, “and we needed some down time as a team.”

“No, I got that part,” Steve started to push his way towards the bar, “I meant, why are we in this loud club paying five dollars a beer and watching half naked co-eds writhe all over each other while pretending to dance instead of at my house watching a movie and grilling?”

“Because it was Kono’s turn to pick the activity,” Danny pointed out sensibly, “And since Adam’s out of town she suggested this…then pouted until you agreed.”

“What he said,” Chin grinned and clapped a hand to Steve’s shoulder as they got to the bar, “You gotta learn how to resist the pout, brah.”

“And don’t even pretend you’re not enjoying the half-naked portion of the evening,” Danny tried to grab the attention of the bartender.

“Order me a Longboard, Danny,” Steve sighed, “I’m going to go find Kono. She was supposed to meet us here.”

“And a table somewhere not by the speakers,” Danny insisted, “Since I’m apparently paying for your beer again.”

Steve smirked at Danny over his shoulder as he made his way to the dance floor. Chin was right, his team had been working hard the last couple weeks. They had just finished up another case this evening when Chin, wise man that he was, suggested a team night. Everyone easily agreed, then Kono had suggested drinks and dancing at a popular nightclub downtown, pouting at Steve when he initially disagreed. He held out for a full minute and a half before he finally gave in, letting Kono leave early so she could go home and get changed for the club.

Danny protested after she left, calling Steve a sexist because he wouldn’t let Danny go home to change too. Truthfully, Steve liked the [bright blue dress shirt and deep gray slacks ](http://static.tvgcdn.net/MediaBin/Content/100920/News/Todays_News_Our_Take/1_mon/100920scottcaan1.jpg)Danny was wearing and he was afraid the man might try to put one of his ridiculous ties on if he went home. Chin was still in his [deep rose Henley](http://d2wulyrnp9ipq4.cloudfront.net/showcards/v4/AllPhotos/8130405/p8130405_n74380_cc_v4_aa.jpg), a color only he could pull off with any success, and a comfortable pair of jeans. Steve’s only concession to the evening was to change out of the white tee-shirt he had somehow gotten blood-stained into a [clean teal V-neck, not bothering to change out of the khaki cargos ](https://alexoloughlinintensestudy.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/314-garden.png?w=500&h=747)he wore since they were still clean.

A flash of color caught Steve’s eye and he turned to see Kono already dancing at the edge of the dance floor. She was in a [bright red halter top](http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/890025715_1/Sexy-Women-2013-Summer-Women-Hallow-Out-Cotton-Tank-Tops-T-shirts-Novelty-Lace-Club-Wear.jpg), the back consisting of only an antique lace pattern and a couple thin straps, and a pair of tight, dark skinny jeans, [black strappy heels](http://www.perfectmeshoes.co.uk/ekmps/shops/pathelschoice/images/koi-couture-black-strappy-stiletto-peep-toe-platform-high-heel-sandals-3937-p.jpg) on her feet. She had pulled her shoulder-length dark hair up into a high ponytail to keep cool in the heat of the club. Steve gave her a quick wave, which Kono returned with a smile, then set off towards the tables at the back corner of the club.

Steve found a couple of tables that would work for their group; big enough they could spend some time together like Chin wanted, far enough from the speakers that Danny wouldn’t be complaining the whole night, high bar stools so Kono could take breaks from dancing, and against the wall with a clear view of the whole club so Steve could keep an eye on everyone. Unfortunately, one of the tables had a large group of rowdy women with feathery tiaras announcing that they were a bachelorette party. The second table had a single occupant; a tall, dark-haired man with a relaxed sprawl and a lazy grin that took Steve a moment to recognize. He made his way over to the table with a smile.

“Is that you, Sheppard?” Steve asked when he got close enough.

The man set his beer down next to a clear glass with a dark bubbly liquid in it and turned his lazy grin to Steve, “McGarrett?”

“Yeah, man,” Steve offered his hand, which Sheppard shook after an almost unnoticeable pause, “Almost didn’t recognize you out of your flight suit.”

Sheppard was wearing a wrinkled white linen shirt[, the top couple buttons undone, sleeves rolled up on his forearms exposing an intricate pale blue-silver tattoo on his right arm, a complicated black digital watch on his left wrist, a thick, dark silver ring on his left ring finger, and a pair of well-worn dark jeans](http://spectacle.provocateuse.com/images/spectacles/joe_flanigan_02.jpg). The thin sliver chain of his dog tags was visible around his neck.

“Nice to see you,” Sheppard motioned to the seats around him, “Have a seat.”

“What are you doing here?” Steve took the seat next to Sheppard, facing out towards the club, “Last I heard they were sending you to Antarctica.”

“They did send me to Antarctica,” Sheppard drawled, “I’m on leave and wanted to do a little surfing. What about you? I thought you were chasing bad guys around the world.”

“I was,” Steve looked out over the crowd to see Chin and Danny making their way towards the table, hands full of cold beers, “I transferred to the reserves four years ago. I run the Governor’s special task force here on the island now.”

“So you’re still chasing bad guys,” Sheppard grinned again, “only now you’re doing it locally.”

“I guess, yeah,” Steve shrugged and returned the grin.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your new friend, Steven?” Danny took the chair next to Steve, setting down the beers on the table as Chin sat next to him.

“Detective Sergeant Danny Williams, Detective Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly,” Steve motioned to each of them with one of the cool beers, “This is an old friend of mine, Major John Sheppard, Air Force.”

“Colonel now,” John smiled around his beer, “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Danny acknowledged.

“Aloha,” Chin greeted him.

“They made you a Colonel?” Steve questioned, “How’d you pull that off?”

“I kept a General from getting his ass shot out of the sky,” John shrugged, “and he gave me a new assignment. Then one thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, they were promoting me again. I made Colonel last year.”  

“You kept a General from getting shot?” Danny wondered curiously.

“Sheppard’s the best pilot around,” Steve explained easily, “He flew a couple missions for my SEAL team when we first met back in…what 2002?”

“Sounds about right,” John agreed.

“What are you doing here in Hawaii?” Chin asked, “You stationed at Hickam?”

“Nah,” Sheppard shook his head, “I’m just here for the sun and waves.”

“Plenty of that here,” Chin smiled, “How long you staying for?”

“Hopefully another week,” John looked over to the dance floor, “As long as there’s no emergencies at work.”

“Where you stationed now?” Steve inquired.

“Peterson,” John answered absently as he smiled wickedly at something in the crowd, “in Colorado.”

Steve followed John's eye-line to see a short, blonde woman striding towards the table. She was wearing a simple, [purple tee-shirt](http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/537616395_1/free-shiping-Tshirt-sexy-t-shirt-Evening-Dresses-BACKLESS-DRESS-fashion-shirt-women-t-shirt-short.jpg), cut in a low V, paired with a tiny pair of dark jean shorts, showcasing strong tan legs, [a low-cut pair of lavender Chucks](http://www.converseamericana.com/images/Converse/Purple_Converse_Chuck_Taylor_All_Star_Low_Top_Canvas_Shoes.jpg) on her feet. Her pale blonde hair was in a [loose French braid](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_ptrk2p9__s/Us2InMpWExI/AAAAAAAAEb4/EYzuyPSBt7g/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-01-08+at+7.49.56+AM.png), the end over one of her shoulders, and she had a tattoo that matched Sheppard’s covering her left forearm. She also had a thin sliver chain for dog tags around her neck.

The blonde stepped close to John, fisted her right hand in the front of his shirt and yanked him close for deep kiss, heavy on the tongue. She released him and gave him a quick wink while reaching over to down the rest of the liquid in the clear glass on the table, then turned to leave. As she turned around, Steve saw the back of her shirt consisted of nothing more than thin purple strings criss-crossed across her skin, tied in a neat bow at the center of her lower back. Before she made it more than a step away, John's hand snapped out around her wrist and he pulled her back to the space between his spread legs.

“Did you put all of them back?” John asked, moving his hand to her hip, “In the right places.”

“I put them all back,” the woman rolled her eyes, “in the proper spots. No one noticed and I didn’t get caught.”

“Good girl,” John patted her butt, “If you can manage to keep your hands out of other people’s pockets for the rest of the night, you can have a special treat tonight.”

“Promises, promises,” the woman leaned over to press a warm kiss to his lips, “I’m going to get another drink. I’ll be back in a minute and you can introduce me to all your gorgeous new friends.”

“Hey,” John called as she walked away, “You’re not supposed to notice things like that.”

“I haven’t suddenly been struck blind, John,” the woman smirked over her shoulder, “Maybe one of them will dance with me since you won’t.”

“Wow,” Danny looked between the stupid grin on John’s face and the retreating blonde’s mostly bare back, “Who’s that and where can I get one?”

“That’s my wife,” John looked over at Danny, grin morphing into a scowl.

“What were you talking about?” Steve interjected, drawing John’s attention away from Danny, “What was she supposed to be putting back?”

“Wallets, hotel keycards, IDs,” John took a long pull from his beer, “Car keys. Whatever happens to be in someone’s pockets basically.”

“Wait, what?” Danny gaped at John, “Your wife is pick-pocketing people?”

“She was afraid her skills were getting rusty,” John rolled his eyes, “I told her as long as she put all the stuff back in the right spots I didn’t care. And that I wasn’t bailing her out of jail if she got caught, but that earned me a lecture that I don’t care to repeat.”

“You do know we’re cops, right?” Danny asked carefully.

“I assumed that when McGarrett called you ‘Detectives’, yeah,” John drawled.

“It doesn’t concern you that you just told a bunch of cops that your wife has been stealing things all night?” Danny questioned.

“I also said she put everything back,” John pointed out.

“Seriously,” Danny looked over to Steve, “Do they teach you guys how _not_ to follow the law in the Army?”

“Navy, Danny,” Steve insisted, “It’s the _Navy_.”  

“I’m Air Force,” John added helpfully.

“Relax, brah,” Chin clinked his beer against Danny’s, “We’re off duty tonight.”

The blonde came bouncing back to the table, sliding into the chair next to John and setting her short glass on the table. She looked around the table, noting the exasperated look on Danny’s face, as well as the amused grins Steve and Chin wore. Steve caught a flash of violet irises as she looked between Danny and him, and something niggled in the back of his brain.

“What were you boys talking about that has Blondie so upset?” she asked.

“Your sticky fingers,” John snorted.

“It doesn’t count as a crime if you put it back where you found it,” she assured Danny with a quick grin.

“Danny Williams, Chin Ho Kelly,” John motioned to each of them, “and-”

“Lieutenant Steve McGarrett,” the blonde finished for him, “Nice to meet you all. I’m EJ Sheppard.”

“Lieutenant Commander, actually,” Steve’s face scrunched up in confusion, “Do I know you? You seem really familiar.”

“You know him, Emma?” John asked curiously.

“His SEAL team pulled me out of Afghanistan,” EJ took a small sip of her drink.

“Oh, yeah?” John dropped his arm over the back of her chair, “Which time?”

“The fourth time,” EJ leaned back against his arm.

“ _Which time_?” Danny asked incredulously, “You’ve had SEAL teams pull you out of Afghanistan more than once?”

“Yeah, half a dozen times,” EJ replied dismissively.

“I remember you now,” Steve expression twisted into a scowl, “You head-butted my Chief Petty Officer.”

“You head-butted a SEAL?” John laughed.

“Most of my fingers were broken at the time,” EJ shrugged, “and my legs were still tied to the chair.”

“You broke his nose,” Steve scowled, “when he told you we were leaving.”

“I broke Petty Officer Carlson’s nose because he wanted me to leave without proof of the intel that I had just spent forty-eight hours acquiring,” EJ corrected, then scrunched up her nose when she continued, “And because he called me ‘baby girl.”

“What is it with you and breaking noses?” John asked fondly.

“I only break noses if they deserve it,” EJ insisted, “I spent a week prepping and executing that mission, two days of which consisted of me getting my bones broken, and Carlson wanted me to leave without what I was sent for. He’s lucky I didn’t break worse than his nose.”  

“Weren’t they there to rescue you?” Danny questioned.

“Not really,” EJ shrugged, taking another long swallow of her drink as she stood, “You sure you don’t want to dance with me, _carissime_?”

“I don’t dance, _dulcis_ ,” John shook his head with a smirk.  

“That’s a terrible shame, Sheppard,” EJ grinned before she turned to Chin and held out her hand, flashing a hint of dark silver on her ring finger, “Dance with me, handsome?”

“Sure,” Chin agreed easily, setting down his beer to take EJ’s hand and letting her pull him towards the dance floor.

“You have Aneurysm Face again, babe,” Danny caught Steve’s attention, “She gave you aneurysm face?”

“I do not have-” Steve started.

“I didn’t know that face had a name,” John interrupted, turning to Danny with a smirk, “You named his face?”

“I was going to go with Bitchface #3,” Danny grinned around his beer, “But I decided Aneurysm Face was more family friendly.”

“Good choice,” John agreed, “Always better to keep things as family friendly as possible.”

“I don’t have Aneurysm Face,” Steve scowled at the two of them.

“Don’t worry, McGarrett,” John smirked again, “She has that effect on most people.”


	2. Chapter 2

Steve relaxed somewhere in the middle of his beer, laughing as John shared some mildly edited stories about the antics McGarrett had gotten into on base when they knew each other.  Danny was entirely too amused to hear about Steve's younger days. Chin joined them again almost thirty minutes later, a little sweaty, grinning widely. He explained that he had introduced EJ to Kono, then pointed over to where the two of them were still dancing.

The four men continued their friendly conversation over beers, the women joining them occasionally when they needed a break from dancing. Steve noticed that John didn’t really share many of his own stories, either carefully deflecting attention to someone else or speaking in deliberately vague terms. He recognized the technique, having used it himself when someone asked about his days as a SEAL, and wondered what sort of classified things John had gotten himself into.

A couple hours later, Danny was in the middle of a mildly embarrassing story about his days as a rookie cop in Jersey when John suddenly frowned and pulled a slim, black cell phone out of his pocket as he set his beer down on the table.

“Colonel Sheppard,” John answered as he flicked his glance to the dance floor. EJ met his eyes and started making her way back to the table.

“They did _what_?” John sighed into the phone and looked at his watch, “Yeah, I’ll take care of it. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

John hung up the phone just as EJ got back to the table.

“What happened?” EJ asked cautiously, “Please tell me Rodney didn’t blow anything up.”

“Not as of yet,” John shoved the phone back in his jeans pocket, “AR-13 got into a fight with some Squids at Pearl.”

EJ blinked a couple times, “Please tell me you don’t mean actual sea creatures.”

“No, I mean six of their classmates,” John laughed, “Since it would take hours for the General to send someone from the Mountain, I told Cam we’d deal with them. He said he’ll have Momma send cookies for interrupting our leave.”

“They better be chocolate chip,” EJ grumbled before turning to Steve, “Commander McGarrett, I know it’s your night off, but I’d like to ask a favor. John and I need to get to Pearl but we didn’t drive tonight. Would you mind giving us a ride? You’re the only one who hasn’t had more than one drink.”

“I drove here with Danny and Chin,” Steve hesitated.

“I’ll drive home with Kono,” Chin offered, “There’s room in her car for Danny too, if need be.”

“Danny can come to Pearl with us,” EJ smiled at him, “I’m sure he’ll enjoy people getting their asses chewed out.”

“If you don’t want to,” John stood, “We can always get a cab. No big deal.”

“I don’t mind,” Steve looked over to Danny, “You want to come with or you staying here?”

“I’m not letting you drive to Pearl in the middle of the night by yourself,” Danny finished the last of his beer, “Let’s go.”

“Thanks guys,” EJ grinned at both of them, “Let me just say goodbye to Kono and we can head out.”

 

_*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*_

 

A quick game of rock, paper, scissors when they arrived at the base had John going to deal with the paperwork while Steve, Danny, and EJ were led to a small classroom where four men in plain green BDUs were standing against a wall. Their eyes widened comically when EJ stepped into the room behind Steve and Danny.

“Oh shit,” the closest one swore under his breath.

“Gentleman,” EJ walked over to stand in front of them, putting her hands on her hips, “Which one of you wants to explain why I’m here?”

“Ma’am,” a tall, bulky man with dark blonde hair spoke up, “We apologize for disrupting your vacation.”

“I don’t want an apology, Captain Edison,” EJ stared up at the man, “I want an explanation.”

“We got into a disagreement with some of the indigenous people, ma’am,” Edison replied carefully.

“A disagreement?” EJ asked coolly, looking over the black eye the youngest of the men had, “Did this disagreement contribute to Lt. Simmons colorful face?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Edison agreed.

“What was the disagreement about?” EJ raised an eyebrow.

“I’d rather not say, ma’am,” Edison hesitated, flicking his glance to Steve and Danny standing quietly by the doorway.

“Is it classified, Captain?” EJ questioned.

“No, ma’am,” Edison answered, “Just…personal, ma’am.”

“I could be enjoying drinks and dancing right now, Marine,” EJ narrowed her eyes at the man, “Instead, I’m here, dealing with you jackasses. You have exactly sixty seconds to tell me what the fight was about before I figure out just how far I can stick my foot up your ass before scream like a girl.”

“Ma’am,” Simmons spoke up quietly, “The others were defending me. It’s my fault.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck whose fault it was, Lieutenant,” EJ turned to face Simmons, “I want to know why one of the most highly trained teams my City has to offer got into a fight with a bunch of fucking Squids.”

“It’s not your fault, Simmons,” Edison glared at him, “Shut up.”

“Fifteen seconds, boys,” EJ’s voice got dangerously calm, “One of you better answer my question, now.”

“Some wannabe SEAL assholes in our dive class were harassing Simmons, ma’am,” a burly man with dark hair and tattoos on both arms spoke up, “Simmons was holding his own, but when one of them threw a punch, we stepped in. We take care of ours, ma’am.”

“Why were they harassing Simmons, Sgt. Guttman?” EJ questioned.

The men shifted nervously, staying silent as EJ stared at them.

“Because I said that I was missing my husband, ma’am,” Simmons answered finally.

EJ’s expression darkened, “Captain Edison, is that what happened?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Edison replied furiously, “They implied that Lt. Simmons didn’t deserve to be in the military because he’s married to Dr. Paulson.”

“Which is complete and total bullshit,” the last man, head shaved of all hair, exploded angrily, “Simmons has saved my life more times than I can remember.”

“Mine too,” Edison spat, “Simmons is worth at least a dozen of those assholes.”

“It was just me, Cap, and Simmons in the locker room at the time,” Guttman clenched his fists, “Lyon was in the shower. We’ve been ignoring them, since once this training is done, we won’t ever have to see these fucknuts again, but one of them took a swing at Devon…”

“And they defended me,” Simmons grinned lopsidedly at the other men, “A couple instructors broke up the fight before it could get too serious.”

“Why are all four of you in here,” EJ questioned, “If Lyon wasn’t directly involved?”

“Because we refused to answer any of the Commander’s questions, ma’am,” Edison responded, “He seemed to agree with his men’s views on the matter. He brought our team in here and contacted General Mitchell hoping that he would force Colonel Sheppard to withdraw us from the program.”

“He obviously hasn’t met General Mitchell or Colonel Sheppard,” EJ snorted.

“No, ma’am,” Guttman smirked, “But I’m guessing since you’re in here with us, he’s met the Colonel by now.”

“You would assume correctly, Sergeant,” EJ nodded, “I assume that since Devon is the only one injured, that you three won this… _disagreement_?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Edison smiled at his men proudly and all of them relaxed, “We kicked their asses.”

“I expect nothing less,” EJ turned to the door and yanked it open, stepping out to address the two armed men standing guard, “Bring the other men involved here, now. I want to have a few words with them.”

“They’re in the infirmary, ma’am,” the taller man answered.

“Unless they are dying or unconscious,” EJ straightened, “I suggest you march them down here, Master Sergeant.”

“I’ll ask my CO if that’s okay,” the man shrugged.

“No, you will get them down here like I ordered,” EJ insisted.

“You can’t order us to do anything,” the other man spoke up, “You’re a civilian.”  

“Captain Edison,” EJ called behind her, “Front and center.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Edison appeared in the doorway and stood at attention.

“Please tell these nice gentleman my rank,” EJ asked in an overly-sweet voice.

“Colonel EJ Baran, United States Marine Corps,” Edison answered sharply, “Currently working for the Military Operations Division of Homeland Security.”

“What happens if you disobey one of my orders?” EJ kept her gaze on the two MPs.

“I don’t know, Colonel,” Edison continued evenly, “I’m not stupid enough to try.”

“Why’s that, Captain?” EJ wondered.

“Because, ma’am, the last person who disobeyed an order from you,” Edison flinched slightly, “still smells like a latrine trench on a hundred degree day.”

“Thank you, Captain Edison,” EJ dismissed the man and he went back into the room to stand by his men.

“My apologies, ma’am,” the second man started, “I didn’t-”

“Shut it, Corporal,” EJ interrupted harshly, “I want the sailors involved in the altercation in this room in the next five minutes or I’m going to stick that nine mil up your ass and empty the clip. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Colonel,” the first man saluted sharply and headed with his companion down the hallway.

“Fucking morons,” EJ stomped back into the room, slamming the door behind her. She turned to face the men against the wall again, “Has it been like this the whole time you’ve been here? Not the fighting I mean, but the idiocy.”

“Far be it from me to speak ill of my fellow serviceman…” Lyon started, “But some of the people here seem to have a below average intelligence quotient.”  

“What the fuck, Frankie?” EJ snorted, “Since when do you speak all fancy?”

“We’ve all been hanging out with Dev too long,” Guttman hooked his thumb at the younger man, “He’s infected the rest of us with his book learning.”

“It’s about time my amazing brain power has rubbed off on you uncultured swine,” Simmons said haughtily.

“I’m telling your husband you’re rubbing off on your teammates,” Lyon waggled his eyebrows at Simmons.

“You say that like you think it’ll bother him,” Simmons laughed.

“Awwww, Dev,” Edison slung an arm around the younger man’s shoulders, “If you wanted an orgy, all you had to do was ask. We’d be happy to join you and Gary for a night of fun.”

“You’re all a bunch of sexual deviants,” EJ rolled her eyes at the four of them.

“EJ’s just upset we interrupted her honeymoon,” Guttman gave her a leering grin, “We all know what her and the Colonel get up to when they’re alone.”  

“Don’t think you kinky fuckers aren’t getting punished,” EJ pointed a finger at them, “You _might_ be getting a pass on the fighting, but you haven’t escaped my wrath entirely.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the four men answered sheepishly.

“Go sit in the back of the room while I think up a suitable punishment for interfering with my sex life,” EJ dismissed them.

The door opened as the men took seats at the short tables and EJ looked over her shoulder to see John.

“Everything all right, John?” EJ asked when she noticed the annoyed expression on John’s face.

“Commander Ross recommended that I withdraw the entire team,” John’s jaw was tight with anger, “on the grounds that Lt. Simmons is unfit to wear a uniform because of his marriage to a person of the male persuasion and that his teammates knew this information.”

“What did you tell him?” EJ raised an eyebrow.

“I told him to stick his recommendation where the sun don’t shine,” John crossed his arms across his chest, “Then I reminded him that DADT was repealed four years ago and even if it wasn’t, Simmons is an extremely valuable asset, so he could sleep with half the men at Chippendales and I still wouldn’t withdraw them. I told him that if my men were treated any differently than the rest of the students in the course, I’d be a lot less pleasant when I came back. How’d it go in here?”

“Simmons has a black eye,” EJ flicked her glance back to the men, “And I don’t think his teammates will be leaving his side for a while. But otherwise they’re fine. It sounds like they didn’t escalate to violence until one of the sailors threw a punch at Simmons. I’m supposed to be thinking up a punishment for them now.”

“The sailors that they were fighting with?” John questioned.

“They _were_ in the infirmary, but after a short _chat_ with the MPs outside, they’re on their way here,” EJ smiled dangerously, “I figured you could deal with them.”

“Oh goody,” John grinned, “This is going to be fun.”

“I’m so confused right now,” Danny shook his head.

“You’re a Colonel in the Air Force,” Steve looked at John.

“Yup,” John agreed.

“And you’re a Colonel in the Marine Corps,” Steve looked at EJ, “who somehow works for DHS.”

“Yup,” EJ nodded.

“And those men are…?” Steve gestured to the men at the back of the room.

“Edison and Guttman are Marines,” John explained, “Lyon is Navy and Simmons is Air Force.”

“You’re in charge of all of them?” Steve questioned.

“I’m their military commander,” John shrugged, “But those four report to Emma.”

“The only dive program here is for SEAL training,” Steve’s brow furrowed, “Why are Marines and Air Force here instead of one of the other combat dive schools?”

“They did the Air Force program last year,” EJ rolled her eyes, “and the Army one before that. They decided those schools were too easy, so they wanted to do the SEAL one this year. They don’t really need to take the course, they just need to take the qualification test, but apparently they consider this some sort of weird team-building thing.”

“Yeah,” Danny waved a hand in the air, “Still confused here. What do you people do exactly?”

“Well, HM1 Lyon is a Navy Corpsman with extensive knowledge of alternative medicines,” EJ gestured to each of the men in turn, “Sgt. Guttman is a Marine sniper who can shoot the wings off a fly at 1000 yards. I’ve yet to see an operating system that Lt. Simmons couldn’t hack in under five minutes. Captain Edison is technically a bomb disposal expert, but he can charm the panties off a nun in three different languages.”

“I’m a combat flight instructor,” John drawled, “a scientist-herder, and military commander. Emma is a linguist, a cryptographer, and a negotiator.”

“That didn’t really answer my question,” Danny huffed.

“They’re special ops, D,” Steve clarified.

“That means…what to me?” Danny questioned.

“That means,” Steve smirked, “It’s highly classified.”  

“If we told you,” EJ winked at Danny, “We’d have to kill you.”


	3. Chapter 3

When the six sailors limped into the room exactly five minutes after they were summoned, Steve was more than a little surprised at their conditions. Two of them had very obviously broken noses, still dripping blood. Another was holding his left arm still against his midsection – Steve figured his shoulder was dislocated. The biggest one was having trouble drawing in a full breath, the pain from his ribs apparent. The last two were supporting each other, one unable to put any weight on his right leg, the other on his left.

Steve watched as John gave the six of them the worst dressing down he had ever heard, made even worse by the fact he never once raised his voice. Steve started to feel bad for the sailors, being threatened by a Zoomie with a just-on-the-wrong-side-of-regulation haircut, but then he remembered what the fight was about and the feeling passed. John made it abundantly clear that if the sailors so much as looked at _his men_ the wrong way, they’d be out of the military before they could blink.

After twenty minutes, John finally dismissed the sailors back to the infirmary. EJ ordered the four men back to attention at the front of the room and proceeded to tell them they were on geologist-sitting duty on something called 695 for a week. While that didn’t seem like much of a punishment to Steve, it made the four men pale and duck their heads in shame. All four of them apologized sincerely to John and EJ for pulling them off leave before they left the room, escorted by the MPs back to their bunks.

When they got back to Steve’s truck, John gave him an address in Diamond Head, settling into the back seat with his hand linked together with EJ’s. Steve pulled up the long driveway to a rather impressive house on the beach a short time later and Danny let out a low whistle.

“Maybe I should’ve joined the Army,” Danny laughed, “If they get paid enough to afford a place like this.”

“It’s my brother’s place,” John winced slightly, “He was the CEO of my father’s company until recently.”

“Wait a minute,” Danny turned around in his seat to face John fully, “You’re one of _those_ Sheppards?”

“ _Those_ Sheppards?” Steve questioned.

“Sheppard Utilities is one of the biggest companies on the east coast,” Danny explained, “Has been for decades. It was big news when Dave Sheppard stepped down as CEO last year. Ma called to tell me about it.”

“Yeah,” John blushed faintly, “The President offered Dave a new job and he took it.”

“I’m sorry we interrupted your night off,” EJ changed the subject easily, “Our men get carried away sometimes.”

“My men,” John interjected.

“Colonel Sheppard’s men,” EJ rolled her eyes at him, “They’re usually better behaved than that.”

“It sounds like they had a good reason for the fight,” Steve shrugged, “No big deal.”

“Which is why they got geologist-sitting duty,” EJ agreed, “Instead of botanist-sitting duty.”

“What the hell is geologist-sitting duty?” Danny wondered.

“Guard duty for geological experts,” John clarified, “Currently studying tectonic plate shifts.”

“Terrible punishment for teams like Edison’s,” EJ snorted, “that think the judicious application of C4 is the answer to every problem.”

“No, Steven,” Danny immediately looked over to Steve, “You cannot requisition C4 for the office.”

“But Danno,” Steve pouted, “What if we need to blow something really big up?”

“Absolutely not,” Danny shook his head, then pointed a finger at EJ, “You stop giving him ideas. I _just_ got him to give up on trying to requisition Five-O a tank.”

“A tank’s too big for an island this size,” EJ shook her head, “You need one of those armored Humvees with a fifty cal mounted on top. That’s a better size. I know a guy that could hook you up, if you want.”

“Out! Get out of the truck now. You’re no longer allowed to be within twenty feet of McGarrett. An armored Humvee. What is wrong with you people?” Danny started waving his hands frantically, face reddening as he continued his rant.

“I think you broke my partner,” Steve spoke quietly.

“Wow,” EJ tilted her head to the side as Danny continued his rant, “I didn’t think he would be quite so…animated. Cool.”

“We better go before he has a stroke,” John laughed.

“Yeah,” EJ agreed, reaching behind her to produce two cell phones as Danny finished speaking, “Here. I put our number in your phones.”

“Why do you have my phone?” Danny snatched it from her hand.

“I nicked both of them back at the base,” EJ shrugged as Steve took his phone.

“You’re a menace to society,” Danny scowled, “even worse than SuperSEAL. At least he doesn’t steal things.”

“It doesn’t count as stealing,” John grinned, “if you put it back where you found it.”

“You guys should stop by the house tomorrow,” EJ opened her door, “There’s a private beach off the back. I already invited Kono to come by to surf.”

“I have Grace tomorrow,” Danny hesitated.

“Bring her by,” John drawled as he got out of the car, “The place is too big for just the two of us. We’d be glad to have some company.”

“There’ll be free beer,” EJ offered, shutting the door and leaning against Danny’s open window, “and pizza. It’s the least we can do to thank you for the ride.”

“How about you ask Gracie in the morning?” Steve suggested, “I’m sure she won’t mind a day at the beach.”

“I’ll ask her,” Danny agreed, “But there better not be any fruit on the pizza.”

“Gross,” EJ scrunched up her nose in disgust, “Who puts fruit on their pizza? Pepperoni and cheese only, I promise.”

“I changed my mind,” Danny smirked, “Maybe you’re not so bad after all.”

“I’ll call you about the Humvee,” Steve shouted as John and EJ walked to the front door.

 

_*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*_

 

Steve surveyed the remains of empty pizza boxes, beer bottles, and crumpled up napkins. Danny was stretched out on one of the lounge chairs, head tipped back and eyes closed, a wide smile on his face. Chin made an attempt to clean up some of the mess, but EJ waved him away, saying she’d take care of it later. That had led to all four men stretching out in their long chairs, tired from the day of hot sun and cool water.

“It’s been too long since I’ve had a real vacation,” John sighed lazily, eyes hidden by his sunglasses.

“How long?” Chin asked curiously.

“Something like five years,” John drawled, “Give or take a couple days.”

“You haven’t had a vacation in five years?” Steve questioned.

“Work keeps me busy,” John shrugged.

“Your job sucks,” Danny mumbled without opening his eyes.

“Does not,” John objected, “Best job ever.”

“Not if they don’t give you days off,” Danny snorted.

“Technically, I have the days off,” John corrected, “but I never get the chance to take them.”

“I repeat,” Danny smiled, “Your job sucks.”

“Nuh-uh,” John pouted, “My job is awesome.”

“Is not,” Danny argued.

“Is too,” John protested.

“What happened to the girls?” Steve interrupted before the argument could get any more juvenile, “They’ve been gone for almost an hour.”

“In the house,” Chin waved a hand behind him, “They were giggling and plotting, I’m pretty sure.”

“That’s not going to end well for any of us,” John said warily, not bothering to lift his head to look.  

“Probably not,” Steve grinned when the girls came out the back door. Kono and EJ each carried a giant tub filled with water balloons. Grace was carefully carrying two smaller buckers, water sloshing over the side. Chin raised his eyebrow as Steve lifted a finger to his lips, then pointed to the girls moving stealthily closer. Neither John nor Danny noticed when Kono and EJ set the tubs down, taking the full water buckets from a grinning Grace.

“Introducing EJ to Kono,” Danny grumbled, “was the worst idea ever. I'm pretty sure they have a plan to take over the island now.  They’re both corrupting my daughter with their insanity.”

“It could’ve been worse,” John pointed out, “They could’ve-”

John and Danny both spluttered and jerked upright as Kono and EJ emptied the buckets of cold water over their heads. Grace bent over laughing at the indignant look on Danny’s face as he turned around to glare at Kono. John shook his head like a wet dog as EJ took a step back, with a smile that failed to look innocent. John pointed a finger at her and said something decidedly unfriendly in a language Steve didn’t recognize.

“You are so fired,” Danny pointed a finger a Kono before turning his glare to Steve, “And you! Don’t even pretend you didn’t see them coming. Thanks for the warning, _pal_.”

“No problem, Danno,” Steve smirked.

“Uncle Chin’s on our side,” Grace informed them between giggles, “The red balloons are ours. The blue ones are yours.”  

“There are strategically placed water guns around the backyard,” EJ smiled widely, “The water balloon tubs have to stay where they are. You can only take as many balloons as you can carry and only your designated color.”

“Losers have to make dinner,” Kono declared, handing red balloons to Grace as Chin stood.

“You are under attack…” EJ threw a water balloon at Steve, laughing as it splattered against his chest, “…as of now.”

She snatched up an armful more and joined Kono and Grace in running for cover behind the palm trees around the yard.

“Sorry, guys,” Chin launched a water balloon at Steve before taking off, “I’m not cooking tonight.”

“Traitor,” Steve yelled after him.

“You know, of course,” Danny shouted, “This means war!”

“Bring it, Jersey,” EJ taunted him.

“There will be retribution, Sheppard,” John promised as another water balloon burst against his shoulder while he was reaching down to retrieve blue balloons from the tub, “Surrender now and I’ll be merciful.”

There was some evil cackling from behind a tree before EJ answered, “We’ve got Grace-the-Great, Kono-the-Kinetic, Chin-the-Calm, and EJ-the-Excellent. We’ll never surrender!”

“We will be victorious!” Kono shouted, poking her head out to throw a water balloon at Danny. He tried to crouch behind the water balloon tub, but Grace popped up from behind a bush and sprayed him with a water gun that was nearly as big as her.

The subsequent battle took a full two hours and from what Steve could tell, the red team was winning, but barely. All of them were soaked from head to toe and there were pieces of red and blue rubber scattered all over the grass. The water guns had long since been emptied and Grace had forbidden Steve from refilling them after she caught him going for the hose. Each side was down to only one water balloon. He was about to sneak up on Kono when he heard a loud, blaring ring tone coming from the table by the house.

“That’s ours,” EJ called, not coming out from behind the tree, “Whoever’s closest look at the number, please.”

Chin jogged over to look at the phone, “It says NORAD.”

“You’re closer, Colonel,” EJ yelled.

“Yeah,” John agreed, “I got it.”

John answered the phone and stepped inside the house to have a quick conversation. Steve used the distraction to launch the last water balloon at the top of Kono’s head, grinning triumphantly when it broke open, soaking her hair.

“No fair, bossman,” Kono protested, “We were in time-out for the phone call.”

“No one called time-out,” Danny smirked as he came out from behind the lounge chair he had tipped over.

“Danno’s right,” Grace smiled, “Sorry, Auntie Kono. That one counts.”

“We’re still winning though,” Chin bumped fists with Grace as John came back out and set the phone back on the table.

“Mountain’s on lockdown,” John informed EJ.

“How bad?” EJ poked her head out from behind the tree with a frown.

“Level three,” John shrugged, “Fifteen started hallucinating four hours after they came back from their survey. Lam has the base quarantined until further notice. Shaft doesn’t think it’s anything serious, but better safe than sorry.”

“In that case,” EJ came out from behind the tree fully and threw a balloon a John’s face, “We win.”

John swiped a hand down his wet face and narrowed his eyes at EJ. She stuck her tongue out him and pumped both fists into the air, doing a sort of weird victory dance. John started forward and EJ dropped her hands quickly, eyes widening as she backed up.

“Don’t even think about it, John Sheppard,” EJ warned, “Don’t you do it.”

“Get her, John!” Grace cheered.

EJ let out a high-pitched squeak as John wrapped his arms around her middle, throwing her over his shoulder and taking off towards the shoreline. He waded waist deep into the surf then threw EJ into the cold water.

Steve turned to see Grace whispering to a bent-over Chin. He nodded, grinning, as Grace made her way over to Steve. She tugged on his hand and he crouched down so she could whisper in his ear too. Steve nodded, just like Chin had, and both men turned to Danny.

“No,” Danny shook an angry finger at them, “Absolutely not. You are not throwing me in the ocean.”

“Get him, Uncle Steve, Uncle Chin!” Grace ordered with a grin, “Don’t let Danno get away, Auntie Kono!”

Between Chin, Kono, and Steve, they managed to throw a still protesting Danny into the cool water. Danny managed to get a foot hooked behind Steve’s leg and took him under the water with him. When they surfaced, Grace was standing ankle deep in the water, laughter bright and warm in the ocean air.

It was the most fun Steve had had in a long time, even if he did end up having to make dinner.


	4. Chapter 4

“Steven,” Danny pushed the door to Steve’s office open, waving a stack of papers, “You cannot justify the suspect’s broken nose with the words ‘he deserved it because he was low-life, scum-sucking drug dealer’. This is an official police report. There’s a very high probability that the Governor will read this. You’re not going home until you fix it.”

“But Danno,” Steve pouted as Danny dropped the report on his desk, “It’s eight o’clock. The sun’s down. It’s time for all of us to go home. Can’t you fix it for me tomorrow?”

“No, I can’t,” Danny pointed a finger at Steve, “Because this case only took two days and you somehow managed to ruin another pair of my shoes and my favorite pants.”

“Exactly,” Steve smiled, “The case took two whole days. My brain’s too fried to concentrate on paperwork anymore tonight.”

“Don’t give me that crap,” Danny shook his head, “I was with you every step of the case and I still managed to write an appropriately worded report that didn’t include the words ‘low-life’ and ‘scum-sucking’.”

“But the guy was a low-life, scum-sucking drug dealer,” Steve protested.

“That’s not the point,” Danny rolled his eyes.

“It is the point,” Steve argued, “Did you want me to _lie_ on an official police report?”

“No, I don’t want you to lie on an official police report,” Danny gave a long-suffering sigh, “I want you to find a better way to-”

Danny was interrupted by the ringing of Steve’s cell phone. Danny glared at Steve’s relieved smirk as he answered.

“McGarrett.”

“ _Steve_ ,” EJ spoke unevenly, “ _I need help_.”

“EJ?” Steve asked warily, hitting the speakerphone button so Danny could hear, “You okay? What’s wrong?”

“ _There’s a dead guy in my bedroom,_ ” EJ’s breathing was strained, “ _Another in the backyard. Colonel Sheppard was taken…ten minutes ago…I think..._ ”

“Are you okay?” Danny questioned as Steve came out from behind the desk.

“ _’m fine_ ,” EJ answered, “ _Tried to tranq me. Didn’t get a full dose._ ”

“We’re on our way now,” Steve informed her as Chin and Kono came out of their offices in response to Steve’s worried look, “Can you stay on the line?”

“ _’til I pass out_ ,” EJ replied.

There was a single loud gunshot and crunching glass, followed by another loud gunshot.

“Colonel Baran, report,” Steve ordered, throwing the glass doors to their offices open, Danny, Chin, and Kono trailing behind him.

“ _All good, Commander,_ ” EJ responded with more labored breaths, “ _Just making sure the dead guys stay dead_.”

“Do you normally have a problem with dead people coming back to life?” Danny asked incredulously.

“ _You’d be surprised_ ,” EJ snorted, “ _Hold on, I have to find something to tie this guy up with_.”

“Tie what guy up?” Danny questioned.

“ _Third guy_ ,” EJ’s voice was further away, “ _Still alive…mostly._ ”

“Third guy?” Steve started Danny’s Camaro, pulling out of the parking space as soon as Danny slammed his door.

“ _Yeah_ … _hit ‘im pretty hard_ ,” EJ swore under her breath in Czech after a minute, “ _Be out for a while. Might kill him later._ ”

“How many guys were there?” Danny asked, flipping on the lights and sirens.

“ _Twelve, maybe?_ _Took down three_ ,” EJ’s words started running together, “ _Gonna sit down. Hate tranqs._ ”

“We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Steve assured her, “Hang on.”

“ _Commander, listen,_ ” EJ enunciated each word carefully, “ _No hospitals. Important. Take me to Pearl. Frankie…Corpsman Lyon. Only my guys. No one else. Black duffel in the closet. Bring it. Please. Vitally important._ ”

“I thought you said you were uninjured,” Danny questioned.

“ _Said I was fine_ ,” EJ slurred, “ _Not uninjured. Please Steve. ‘s ‘portant.”_

“I understand, EJ,” Steve replied carefully, “Take you to Corpsman Lyon at Pearl. Bring the black duffel from the closet.”

“ _Mahalo_ ,” EJ sighed quietly, “ _paʻuhia_.”

“What did she say?” Danny looked over to Steve.

Steve scowled, “Something about sleeping. I think she’s out.”

“Why is it every time one of your friends visits,” Danny grabbed the door panel when Steve took a corner a faster than strictly necessary, “we always seem to end up with dead bodies on our hands?”

“That’s not true,” Steve insisted.

“You keep telling yourself that buddy,” Danny scoffed.

Steve and Danny continued to argue until they pulled up the long drive to the Sheppard’s house, Kono’s red Cruze pulling up next to them.

“HPD, EMS and ME’s office are on their way,” Chin spoke quietly, already pulling his shotgun from Kono’s trunk.

“Let’s go,” Steve drew his gun, heading towards the front door.

Danny motioned towards the open door and Steve’s frown deepened. The four of them were silent as they entered the house, fanning out to clear all the rooms. There were no signs of anything amiss in the house, other than the open front door, until Steve walked into the master bedroom.

Steve’s eyes swept over the body on the floor, a round hole in the direct center of his forehead, his arm bent at an unnatural angle, blood pooling on the carpet underneath him. One of the sliding doors that led to the backyard was shattered, broken glass pieces crunching under Steve’s boots as he stepped outside. He saw another body, again with a neat hole in his forehead, but this one had a black knife protruding from his chest. There was a third man, blood seeping slowly from a wound on his temple, his hands and feet bound tightly with what looked like shoelaces.

He heard quiet breathing to his left and immediately turned to see EJ slumped against the house, still unconscious, phone on the ground next to her. She was still clutching a black Glock loosely in her left hand.

“Back here,” Steve called as he knelt down to press two fingers to EJ’s neck. Her right hand snapped around his wrist and pulled his arm back painfully as she jammed the barrel of her gun into the underside of his jaw.

“Hey, relax,” Steve held himself still as EJ blinked rapidly, her eyes finally focusing on his face, “It’s Steve. You called me, remember?”

“Sorry,” EJ released his arm and lowered the gun as the rest of his team came outside, “Reflex.”

“It’s all good,” Steve looked her over carefully. She was wearing a loose gray USAF tee shirt, the right side stained with blood on her lower abdomen where a large piece of glass was sticking out. There were several smaller pieces of glass littering the right side of her body from head to toe.

“Fucker kicked me through the glass,” EJ answered Steve’s unspoken question, “It’s okay, though. I stuck my knife in his aorta.”

“Paramedics are five minutes out,” Kono informed them.

“No,” EJ’s eyes widened as she turned back to Steve, “No EMTs, no hospital.”

“You’ve lost quite a bit of blood,” Danny crouched down, pressing a towel he had retrieved from the house against her side, careful not to disturb the glass sticking out.  

“I’ll be fine,” EJ shook her head at Danny, “It’s not nearly as bad as it looks. Take me to Pearl.”

“EJ, I think you should consider-” Steve started.

“Commander,” EJ interrupted, “Shut up. Let me tell you how this is going to go. You and Detective Williams are going to argue with me about going to a hospital. I’m going to inform you that I’m not going. You’re going to insist then I’m going to break your pretty face and steal Detective Williams’ car to drive myself. OR…you could just take me to Pearl and we can both avoid the Danny rant we’d get otherwise.”

“Are you always this big of a pain in the ass?” Steve raised an eyebrow at her.

“Depends on who you ask,” EJ smirked, “Help get me in the car before I pass out again.”

“I’m only agreeing,” Steve helped Danny get EJ to her feet, “because if I let Danno’s car get stolen again I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“We’ll take care of things here,” Chin smiled calmly.

“Keep that guy out of general lock-up,” EJ spoke over her shoulder as Danny wrapped a strong arm around her middle to keep her steady, “Don’t let anyone talk to him.”

“They know how to do their jobs,” Danny huffed, “Be quiet and concentrate on walking in a straight line.”

“I like you, Jersey,” EJ grinned at him, “You’re one of mine.”  

“I’m so glad,” Danny rolled his eyes, “I have no idea what that means.”

“Black duffel in the closet,” EJ reminded Steve, “I’ll need it.”

“Yeah, I got it,” Steve moved over to the closet to grab the bag, “Should I ask what’s inside?”

“Probably not,” EJ snorted, then looked down at her bare legs, “Should I get pants?”

“There’s glass embedded in your leg,” Danny pointed out, “Probably not going to be very comfortable.”

“Good point,” EJ nodded, “At least we put _some_ clothes on after…”

“Ahhhh,” Danny shook his head, “Stop. I do not need to hear about this.”

EJ paused as they got to the front door, frowning at the dark control panel for the alarm.

“No one ever listens to me,” EJ pouted as she started moving forward again, “Told them that system was flawed.”

“Told who?” Steve asked he popped the trunk, placing her duffel inside and shutting it again.

“Everybody,” EJ winced as Danny helped her settle into the passenger seat.

“Try not to bleed all over my nice car,” Danny adjusted the towel against EJ’s side gently.

“I’ll do my best,” EJ smiled weakly.

Danny walked around to the passenger side, sliding into the back seat before Steve climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. EJ was quiet as they pulled out of the driveway and back onto the street, her eyes fluttering closed as she fought to stay awake.

“Oh shit,” EJ’s eyes flew open suddenly, “I need to call our boss. Did you bring my phone?”

“I didn’t grab it,” Danny shook his head.

“You can use mine,” Steve reached over to the console in the dash, “What’s the number?”

EJ gave him them number, taking a deep breath as it began ringing on speaker.  

“ _Lt. Dennis_.”

“This is Colonel Baran,” EJ spoke evenly, “Authentication Echo-seven-niner-one-two-Omega. Unsecured line.”

“ _One moment please_ ,” the voice paused and there was a clicking, “ _Secure_.”

“Patch me through to General Mitchell immediately,” EJ ordered.

“ _Just a moment, ma’am_.”

There was a long silence before a tired drawl came over the line, “ _Unless the world is ending again or_   _we're being_ _overrun by bad guys in the next six hours, I’m going back to sleep._ ”

“Cam, it’s me,” EJ replied, “We have a problem.”

“ _EJ_?” Mitchell’s voice was instantly awake, “ _What’s going on_?”

“Someone took John,” EJ shifted in her seat.

 _“Damn it_ ,” Mitchell swore, “ _How long_?”

“Forty-five minutes maybe?” EJ answered uncertainly, “They tranq’d him and tried to do the same to me. Two dead, one detained, twelve total.”

“ _You hurt_?” Mitchell wondered.

“Minor lacerations,” EJ reported, “Puncture wound to the lower right abdomen. Glass embedded in the wounds. Nothing serious.”

“ _I’ll send a containment team out_ ,” Mitchell responded, “ _But it’ll take eight hours minimum to get them out there. Apollo’s still two days out and the Odyssey’s between-_ ”

“Bloody fucking hell, McGarrett,” EJ interrupted as Steve pulled the car partially on the curb to pass a car, “You’re in Hawaii, not Kandahar City. I’m almost positive there are no IEDs here. Drive like a sane person please.”  

Danny snorted in laughter as Mitchell continued evenly, “ _Sheppard’s transmitter_?”

“They fried it,” EJ scowled, “Knew where it was too. Think you have a plumbing problem.”

Mitchell sighed, “ _You’re giving me an ulcer_.”

“They aren’t blocking the _Cultore_ link,” EJ informed him, “He’s still within range.”

“ _What do you need_?” Mitchell questioned.

“Patch job,” EJ started, “at Pearl. We have a team there.”

“ _I’ll clear the way for you_ ,” Mitchell agreed, “ _What else_?”

“Party favors,” EJ’s eyes started fluttering closed again, “Transpo. Call the Governor, have him give me Five-O for the duration. Need the extra bodies. Work out the jurisdictional issues and get temp clearance. Non-disclosure agreements but send Lt. Colonel Davis. Dave needs his detail doubled until this is sorted, just in case.”

“ _I’ll handle it_ ,” Mitchell agreed, “ _Get him back_ , _Colonel_.”

“Yes, sir,” EJ agreed easily.

“ _And Colonel_?”

“Sir?”

“ _You’ll need some of them alive for questioning_ ,” Mitchell drawled, “ _Try not to kill them all_.”

“Do my best, sir,” EJ slurred as she lost consciousness again.

“ _Commander McGarrett_?” Mitchell asked.

“Here, sir,” Steve answered, “She’s out again.”  

“ _AR-13_ _will be waiting for you outside the infirmary entrance_ ,” Mitchell informed him, “ _Do not let anyone other than them touch EJ_. _I’m going to make a couple phone calls and you’ll be getting a call from the Governor’s office soon telling you that your team is temporarily under the command of Colonel Baran. Do what she says_. _A containment team will be there in about eight hours._ ”

“Understood, sir,” Steve acknowledged.

“ _Lt. Colonel Davis will be there in…_ ” Mitchell continued, “… _about twelve hours with non-disclosure agreements for your team to sign. Everything you see, hear, or experience until Five-O’s released back to the Governor is classified Alpha Black. Is that clear_?”

“Yes, sir,” Steve agreed, meeting Danny’s confused and annoyed glance in the rearview mirror.

 _“Good,_ ” Mitchell drawled, “ _Now, I have to go wake some very important people up._ ”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if I got any medical things wrong (which I'm sure I did).

EJ jolted awake when Steve slammed on the brakes, stopping in front of the infirmary building where her team was waiting. This time they were dressed in short-sleeved black BDUs, a plain rectangle Velcro patch on one shoulder and an odd not-quite upside down triangle patch on the other, both blank. All four of them had a black nine millimeter strapped to their thighs. They were calmly arguing with several people in white lab coats and scrubs.

Steve got out of the car, Danny following him closely as he went around to open the passenger side door. Lyon came over to help get EJ out of the car, supporting her on one side with Danny on the other. Two men in scrubs reached forward to help them, but the rest of the team stepped between them and EJ.

“We have this under control,” Edison insisted calmly, “Thank you for your concern, but your assistance isn’t required.”

“Steve, bag,” EJ reminded him quietly.

Steve popped the trunk, pulling the large black duffel out.

“That woman is clearly injured,” one of the doctors scowled, “She needs medical attention immediately.”

“Which Corpsman Lyon will provide,” Edison responded smoothly.

“A Corpsman is hardly qualified-” the doctor started again.

“I assure you,” Edison interrupted, “Corpsman Lyon is more than qualified to deal with Colonel Baran’s injuries. Please move out of the way.”

“I will not allow my infirmary to be taken over by-” the doctor started turning red.

“Gentlemen, move,” EJ ordered and the three men immediately stepped out of her way as she straightened in Lyon and Danny’s grip, “Doctor, no one on your staff has the security clearance to provide medical treatment for me. And quite frankly, I don’t have the time or patience to deal with your bureaucratic bullshit right now. Move.”

“I have top secret cle-” the doctor blustered.

“I know you’ve received at least one phone call by now explaining that my team and I were in need of your _facilities_ ,” EJ stated coolly, “ _Not_ your services. If you don’t like it, call your CO. Now, get the fuck out of our way or I’ll give my men permission to do whatever’s necessary to move you.”

EJ’s team instantly drew their guns, steadily aiming them at the staff standing between them and the door.

“You’ll all be court-martialed for this,” the doctor swore, he and his staff finally moving out of the way.

“Good luck with that,” EJ snorted as Danny and Lyon helped her through the door.

Steve followed them to an empty room in the back where Lyon and Danny got EJ up on a gurney, laying her carefully on her left side.

“LSD is in my bag,” EJ motioned to the black duffel that Steve set down by the window, “If you need it.”  

“Got mine in my kit,” Lyon reached over to pull a pair of blue latex gloves on, “We’ll see.”

The other three men came into the room as Steve and Danny moved to the side, out of the way. They were followed by a woman in bright colored, dinosaur covered scrubs with deep-red hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, her light green eyes calm and determined.

“She insisted on coming in,” Edison explained when EJ looked over.

“You’re going to need help,” the woman spoke evenly.

“Damn it. This is pretty deep,” Lyon swore under his breath as he cut EJ’s bloody shirt away from her wound, “What’s your name?”

“Susan,” the woman answered, “I’m an ER nurse.”

Lyon motioned her forward, “Susan, this is EJ. She’s cranky and hates needles.”

“I’m not cranky,” EJ pouted.

“EJ, this is Susan,” Lyon ignored her as he started gathering supplies from the cabinets behind him, “I need her help.  Don’t punch her.”

“Nice to meet you, EJ,” Susan smiled down at her.

“I need you to start an IV,” Lyon ordered as he sat back down on the stool next to the gurney, “She needs at least one unit of O-neg. I’ll suture this wound if you can take care of the smaller lacerations. Local anesthetic only.”

“Yes, sir,” Susan agreed, “Painkillers?”

“Bad-ass Barbie doesn’t need painkillers,” Lyon snorted, using a pair of forceps to grip the protruding glass tightly.

“Fuck you, Frankie,” EJ sucked in a breath as Lyon yanked the glass from her side.

“No thanks, EJ,” Lyon laughed as he started wiping the blood away, “The Colonel would space me if I so much as looked at you funny.”

“Yeah, probably,” EJ smiled brightly before looking over to Edison, “General Mitchell fill you guys in?”

“He gave us the highlights,” Edison smirked, “I hear the Colonel got himself nabbed again.”

“Yup,” EJ rolled her eyes, “Can’t take him anywhere.”

“Colonel can't even go on his honeymoon without getting captured,” Guttman snorted.

“Makes life interesting,” EJ grinned, then her expression turned serious, “We need to be ready to go in thirty minutes.”

“An hour,” Lyon argued.

“Frankie,” EJ warned, “The _Cultore_ link only has a certain range. If they move him off the island...”

“An hour, Colonel,” Lyon spoke firmly, “Unless you snuck a tissue healer in that bag, you need a shit ton of stitches. I can only go so fast.”

“We need to be ready in an hour then,” EJ scowled at him, “Simmons, the security footage of us from tonight needs to disappear. I’ll also need real-time sat footage of the island to locate Sheppard.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Simmons nodded, “I’ll redirect one as soon as I wipe the footage.”

“Edison, we’ll need a bird,” EJ looked over to him, “General Mitchell was supposed to arrange transport, but after the debacle outside, you might have to steal one.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Edison smirked, “Sounds like fun.”  

“Guttman,” EJ looked over to Steve and Danny, “Meet Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett and Detective Sergeant Danny Williams. They’ll be joining us. Make sure they, and the rest of us, have appropriate gear for an extraction. Same deal, steal it if you have to.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Guttman looked them over, “They any good?”

“Steve is a trained SEAL,” EJ winced as Susan stuck the IV needle in her arm, “And Danny was a beat cop in Jersey.”

“Sweet,” Guttman grinned at Danny.

“An hour, boys,” EJ reminded them, “Go.”

All three men turned swiftly and left the room. Before Steve or Danny could voice any of their questions, Steve’s phone rang.

“McGarrett,” he answered evenly.

“ _Commander McGarrett_ ,” Denning spoke calmly, “ _I have just been_ ordered _to give temporary command of the Five-O task force to a Colonel Baran of DHS. Would you care to explain what is going on_?”

“Truthfully, sir,” Steve exchanged glances with Danny, “I’m not entirely sure. Where did the order come from?”

“ _The President of the United States_ ,” Denning replied, “ _called me personally. It’s four am in DC, Steve. The President was a little light with the details, but he did use the words ‘National Security’ several times. Is there anything I need to be concerned about_?”

“Not at this time, Governor,” Steve assured him, “But I’ll let you know if the situation changes.”

“ _You do that, Commander_ ,” Denning commanded, “ _Until I hear otherwise, I’ll keep Five-O on stand-down for all other cases_. _Good luck, McGarrett._ ”

“Yes, sir,” Steve hung up and turned to Danny, “Five-O has been assigned to Colonel Baran until further notice.”

“By who?” Danny scowled, “The rest of us aren’t in the military. They can’t just order us around.”  

“Actually, the President can order anyone he wants,” Steve shoved his phone back in his pocket.

“I’m sorry,” Danny waved a hand through the air, “Did you say the President?”

“Yes,” Steve turned to stare at EJ.

“I said it was classified, didn’t I?” EJ smiled innocently.

 

_*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*_

 

While EJ was getting cleaned and stitched up, Guttman produced two black tee shirts, two black BDU pants, and two pairs of combat boots for Steve and Danny to change into. Steve wasn’t sure whether he should be impressed or concerned when it turned out everything fit perfectly. They were led out to the airfield where Edison and Simmons were waiting by a black helicopter. Edison was carefully inspecting all the gear they had acquired while Simmons huddled over a laptop and a thick tablet.

Steve and Danny were given tac vests, already loaded down with various gear, and MP5s, along with several full ammo clips for the weapons. Steve and Danny insisted on keeping their personal sidearms and after a quick inspection of the weapons and assurances that they had extra clips, Edison agreed.

Edison and Guttman got their own vests in place, but each took a P90 and what even Steve thought was an excessive amount of spare ammo. Edison pulled Simmons away from the laptop long enough to get him geared while Guttman checked over a high-tech sniper rifle.

Exactly an hour after she had given the orders, EJ and Lyon walked up to the helicopter. EJ was now dressed in short-sleeved black BDUs like the others, clear of any identifying marks or patches, and tightly laced combat boots with her long hair pulled back in a simple braid. The cuts from the glass had been cleaned, leaving only small red marks littering the exposed skin on her right side. She had dual thigh holsters already strapped to her legs, the black Glock that Steve recognized from earlier on the left and a strange cylindrical object on the right.

EJ handed the black duffel she carried to Edison, accepting the vest and P90 he offered in return. Lyon accepted his own vest and weapon then started going through the black backpack marked with a red cross on the front.

“I feel like I’m going to war,” Danny whispered to Steve.

“I think we might be,” Steve looked over the gear being loaded into the chopper.

“I blame you for this entire ordeal,” Danny scowled.

“Relax, Danno,” Steve smiled, “You never know, it might be fun.”

“The closest satellite I could find was NSA,” Simmons handed the tablet to EJ, “I had to hack it to get it moved into position. They won’t notice for another two hours.”

“Hopefully we'll have it back by then,” EJ nodded, “Otherwise Mitchell will be pissed about the paperwork and I'll never hear the end of it.”

“You hacked an NSA satellite?” Steve spoke up.

“Yeah,” Simmons shrugged, “No one there has clearance to know why we need it, so it was faster this way.”

“This is a live feed, right?” EJ questioned.

“Yes, ma’am,” Simmons agreed.

“How are you planning on find Colonel Sheppard?” Danny asked curiously, “Does he have some sort of tracking device or something?”

“Edison, you mind?” EJ closed her eyes, a look of concentration coming over her face.

“Normally the Colonel would have a subcutaneous locator beacon,” Edison explained, “But since whoever took him knew enough to disable it, we have to use alternate means of locating him.”

“Why is Sheppard tagged?” Steve narrowed his eyes.

“We all are,” Edison shrugged, “We have dangerous jobs and there are times we need to be able to locate our personnel from a distance.” 

“Alternate means?” Danny questioned, “What does that mean?”

“That’s classified,” Edison replied evenly.

“I hate that word,” Danny huffed.

“General Mitchell granted us temporary clearance,” Steve pointed out.

“Yes, sir,” Edison agreed, “Which is why I explained about the sub-Q transmitters.”

“He’s conscious,” EJ opened her eyes finally, “But something’s…off.”

“Off?” Lyon questioned.

“He’s not filtering anything out,” EJ frowned slightly, “If I leave the link open completely on my end, I get everything.”

“Do we need to be concerned?” Edison wondered.

“Not yet,” EJ tapped on the tablet, bringing it over to Steve, “You’re pretty familiar with the island, right Commander?”

“To an extent,” Steve agreed cautiously.

“What’s here?” EJ pointed to a spot on the north side of the island.

“Looks like Dillingham Airport,” Steve answered evenly.

“Guess we’d better hurry then,” EJ handed the tablet to Edison, “Before they move him out of range.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Edison noted the location on the tablet before handing back to Simmons. Simmons closed the pouch to cover the tablet then attached it to the Velcro patches on the back of his vest.

“Before we get there, ma’am,” Guttman climbed into the back of the helicopter and held out a hand to help EJ and Lyon in, “We were wondering…does this count as an official rescue?”

“What’s the pot up to?” EJ laughed as Steve and Danny climbed in behind her.

“Eight chocolate bars,” Edison grinned as he and Simmons got into the cockpit, “three jugs of Ruus wine, a bootleg copy of the new Captain America movie, and two dozen condoms.”

“It counts as a rescue for the Colonel,” EJ slipped on her headset, “for me, and for AR-13, but not the rest of AR-1 or AR-2.”

“Told you, motherfuckers,” Lyon spoke into his headset as Edison started the chopper, “You all thought I was crazy for placing that bet.”

“Screw you, asshole,” Guttman flipped him off with a grin.

“You take bets on people getting kidnapped?” Danny gaped.

“There’s an evil little Canadian named Chuck on base,” EJ explained, “That runs a book on pretty much anything you can think of. Sheppard getting kidnapped and who has to go fetch him is one of the most popular.”

“This kind of thing happens a lot?” Steve questioned.

“Him getting captured? Yeah,” EJ snorted as they took off, “I think his record is fourteen times in one month.”  

“You people are certifiably insane,” Danny shook his head.

“Probably,” EJ nodded, a wide smile on her face, “But we’re surprisingly okay with that fact.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you squint your eyes and turn your head sideways, the action scene might actually make sense!

Edison landed the helicopter silently in a remote part of the airfield. EJ, Lyon, and Guttman each pulled what looked like a thick, white PDA out of their vests. The three of them directed the group to a set of warehouses on the other side of the airfield. EJ and Edison were currently standing in front of the group, mutely consulting the strange PDA in EJ’s hand.

EJ handed a small pair of night-vision goggles back to Edison.

“What’re you thinking, Cap?” EJ asked quietly.

“Half and half,” Edison answered thoughtfully.

“Three and four?” EJ tilted her head.

“Sounds good,” Edison agreed.

Edison turned back to the group, “Eleven life-signs inside the building, including the Colonel’s. Two on the outside guarding the front door, none in the back.”

“There’s also a low-level energy spike,” EJ continued, “so watch out for tech. Cap, Frankie, Sarge, you’re around back. Boy Wonder, Jersey, SuperSEAL, and I through the front. General Mitchell has requested that we leave at least _some_ of them alive for questioning.

“That takes half the fun out of it,” Simmons half-whined.

“Don’t pout, Devon,” Edison rolled his eyes, “It makes you look like you’re fourteen.”

“We need to get inside quickly and quietly,” EJ ordered, “Retrieving the Colonel is priority, but I don’t want any bad guys getting away. Any questions?”

“I got one,” Guttman spoke up, “How come you get to be partnered with Jersey and not me?”

“You get Cap _and_ Frankie,” EJ put her hands on her hips, “Don’t complain.”    

“But us Jersey boys need to stick together,” Guttman protested.

“And by ‘stick together’,” EJ narrowed her eyes, “do you mean you want to check out his ass?”

“It’s a nice ass,” Guttman leered at Danny, earning a harsh scowl from Steve.

“Is it necessary for you to hit on everything with a pulse?” Lyon sighed.

“I’m an equal opportunity kind of guy,” Guttman shrugged, “and I happen to like hot blondes with nice asses.”

“Hello, I’m standing right here,” Danny waved at them, “I _can_ hear you.”

“You do have a nice ass, D,” Steve stopped scowling at Guttman to grin at Danny.

“Oh,” Guttman looked between Steve and Danny, “Damn. Never mind.”

“Exactly,” EJ snorted.

“Exactly what?” Danny asked warily.

“Guttman’s observational skills finally caught up to his libido,” Edison chuckled.

“What?” Steve asked, confusion on his face.

“I’ll explain it to you later, Steve,” EJ patted his arm, “Right now, we have to go fetch Sheppard.”

“Have fun storming the castle,” Edison grinned before he, Lyon, and Guttman started off towards the back of the warehouse across the way.

“Bring me back a tee shirt,” EJ laughed after them, jogging quietly towards the warehouse.

Steve followed Danny and the rest of the team, being careful to stay as quiet as he could weighed down with gear. The four of them waited around the corner of the building until there was three quick clicks in the small, black earpieces each of them wore. EJ looked over to Simmons, who clicked his own radio in a sequence Steve couldn’t figure out. Simmons held up a fist, indicating they should all stay where they were, then both he and EJ pulled out flat black knives.

EJ and Simmons stepped around the corner. Simmons wrapped an arm around the closest guard’s neck, bringing his other arm rapidly around to stab his knife into the man’s torso. EJ did the same to the second guard at almost the same instant, killing both of them within seconds. Both guards were moved silently to the side of the building before the knives were withdrawn, quickly wiped clean of blood and put away.

EJ motioned them forward, her and Simmons on one side of the door, Steve and Danny on the other. Simmons aimed his P90 at the door, while EJ pulled a flashbang from her vest, motioning for Steve to do the same. She clicked her radio three times, receiving three in response, then pulled the pin on the grenade.

“Three, two,” EJ whispered, “one…breach.”

Simmons shot out the doorknob, swiftly moving to the side as Steve kicked the door open. He threw his flashbang in, EJ right after him, and turned his head to protect his eyes from the flash.

Simmons rushed through the door, moving to the right, as EJ went in right behind him to the left. Steve followed Simmons, letting Danny go after EJ. Simmons used the stock of his gun to knock one of the partially stunned guys in the head, quickly pulling his arms behind his back and slipping black plastic cuffs on. Steve ordered another man to drop his gun, shooting him in the shoulder when he brought the gun up to aim at Simmons. He kicked the gun away from the man, pulling his arms in front of him and cuffing him.

Steve heard several more shots from around the warehouse before something he could only describe as a laser shot out from the hands of a brunette man at the center of the room. EJ tackled Danny out of the way of the beam, landing on top of him behind a crate of boxes.

“You good, Jersey?” EJ asked evenly.

“Yeah,” Danny replied, “You?”

“Tore my stitches, but I’m fine,” EJ rolled off Danny, “Be advised, one of them has a [za’tarc ring](http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110818030601/stargate/images/4/44/Stargate-ZatarcRingWeapon-Large.png).”

“Saw it,” Simmons shoved Steve behind a metal pillar, “We have two detained.”

“Three detained,” EJ responded as the man shot off another laser beam, this time towards Steve and Simmons.

“Three detained,” Edison’s voice came over the radio, “One dead.”

“That just leaves this guy,” Guttman said, “Snake-head?”

The man turned and fired several more times, slowly making his way to an office in the back.  

“Feels like a megalomaniac to me,” EJ pulled Danny behind another set of crates as the ones they were hiding behind exploded, “Anyone have a shot?”

“No joy,” Guttman responded.

“No joy,” Lyon repeated.

“No joy,” Edison repeated.

“We have the angle,” Simmons poked his head out from behind the pillar for a second, “But I don’t know if I can make the shot.”

“McGarrett, listen,” EJ spoke calmly, as more laser shots were fired toward the back of the room, “We need a kill shot on this guy. The weapon he has can be overloaded and explode. That would be bad for us.”

“Got it,” Steve let his MP5 hang loosely from the strap, drawing his sidearm.

“I’m going to distract him,” EJ warned, “You’re only going to get one chance. Aim for the brain stem and don’t miss.”

“Ready when you are,” Steve glanced around the pole.

“Stay down, Danny,” EJ ordered.

EJ stood up and started running across the room. The man immediately turned and started firing at her, beams narrowly missing her. Steve stepped out from behind the pillar, took a quick, deep breath and squeezed the trigger as he exhaled. The man fell to the ground instantly, the laser beams shooting from his hand finally ceasing.

“Well,” EJ huffed, already unzipping her tac vest to place a hand to her stomach, “That was interesting.”

“We better check the rest of them,” Simmons pulled the strange white PDA out of his vest.

“They don’t feel any different than regular, but check anyway,” EJ agreed, pulling a slightly bloody hand away from under her vest, “Steve, Danny, and I will go retrieve our wayward Colonel.”

“Won’t they need help rounding these guys up?” Danny questioned, coming over to join Steve and EJ walking towards the office in the back.

“They’ll be fine,” EJ insisted, “They don’t need us for this part.”

“You mean they don’t need Danny and I seeing whatever they’re about to do,” Steve declared.

“That too,” EJ stopped next to the man Steve had shot. She drew her gun and fired two shots into the man’s chest, directly over his heart. She paused for a moment then added another in the middle of his forehead before holstering the gun again.

“Really, EJ?” Danny gave her a look normally reserved for Steve after he jumped off a building, “ _Really_?”

“What?” EJ asked innocently.

“I’m pretty sure he was already dead,” Danny rolled his eyes, “I don’t think the extra perforations were necessary.”

“They could be,” EJ shrugged, “You never know.”  

“This is all your fault,” Danny glared at Steve.

“How is her shooting already dead people my fault?” Steve frowned slightly.

“Because you attract crazy people,” Danny pointed a finger at Steve, “You’re honey for crazy people flies.”

“Come on, Jersey,” EJ snagged Danny’s arm with her blood-free hand, “You can yell at your honey later.”

“I do have a name,” Danny let EJ pull him towards the office door.

“Really?” EJ smiled widely at him, “When did that happen?”

“You are so annoying,” Danny shook his head.

“But you like me,” EJ pointed out, “So what does that say about you?”

“I’ve finally been desensitized by all of SuperSEAL’s crazy,” Danny smirked at EJ as she pushed open the door.

John was reclining in what looked like an old dentist’s chair, wearing a [black tee shirt with a white panda head on it, two bamboo stalks crossed underneath ](http://www.imageexchange.com/skubig/22218.jpg)and a pair of dark-gray boxer-briefs. He had thick restraints around his ankles and wrists, as well as a small, flat disc attached to his right temple, but he was otherwise unharmed. John was grinning stupidly, humming what Steve recognized as Johnny Cash as he tapped his fingers in time with the song.

“Emma,” John exclaimed happily, “Hi.”

“Hi, John,” EJ greeted him as she pulled the strange PDA device from her vest.

“Whatcha doing, Em?” John asked curiously as EJ scanned him with the device.

“Making sure they didn’t snake you,” EJ answered calmly.

“Nope,” John shook his head, “No snakes. No pants either. I asked the ugly one for pants, but he said no. Cam’s never going to let this one go. He usually the one who loses his pants.”

“Maybe it won’t count since you didn’t have pants on to begin with,” EJ stuck the device back in her vest and started to undo the restraints.

“You’re really beautiful, you know,” John lifted a hand to brush EJ’s cheek, “I don’t tell you that enough.”

“Thanks,” EJ blushed as she undid the final restraints, “I’m going to take the memory device off you now. It might sting a little.”

“Okie-dokie,” John agreed easily, sitting forward so EJ could pull the disc off. EJ put the disc in one of the pockets on her vest as John turned to Steve and Danny.

“Hi, guys,” John gave both of them a big smile, “What’re you doing here?”

“Your wife thought she could use some help getting you back,” Steve explained easily.

“Cool,” John nodded furiously, then stopped and cocked his head to the side, “Except she doesn’t _really_ need help. There was only ten guys that I saw in the building. Granted one of them was a Goa’uld, but still. Emma’s taken down more guys than that to get me back. She’s awesome.”

“John…” EJ put a hand on his cheek, forcing him to look at her again, “Did they give you something?”

“Steve and Danny?” confusion came over John’s face, “They just got here. How would they give me something if they just got here?”

“Not Steve and Danny,” EJ spoke patiently, dropping her hand, “Did the bad guys give you something?”

“Ohhhhh,” John nodded again, “Yeah, Ugly stuck me with a needle when I wouldn’t answer his questions. He said it was supposed to make me more agreeable. I’m pretty sure it was the Goa’uld version of truth roofies.”

“Well, that explains a few things,” EJ smothered a smile with one hand.

“He’s drugged?” Danny questioned, “Truth serum?”

“Nuh-uh,” John shook his head, “Truth _roofies_. There’s a difference.”

“I’m sure there is,” Danny agreed, smile blooming over his face.

John went into a detailed explanation of the difference between truth serum and truth roofies, Steve and Danny listening with indulgent expressions on their faces.

“ _The rest of these guys are clean_ ,” Lyon’s voice came over the radio, “ _How’s the Colonel_?”

“High as a freaking kite,” EJ snorted, “But otherwise fine.”

“ _Have fun with that,_ ” Lyon laughed, “ _Want me to take a look at your wound_?”

“When we get back to base,” EJ declared, “I’m on Colonel-wrangling duty until then.”

“ _Roger_ ,” Lyon clicked off the radio as John wrapped up his explanation.

“Emma,” John hopped off the chair and wrapped his arms around EJ’s waist, “I was promised a blow-job in the shower when we woke up. We’re both awake now. There’s no shower here, but I think I can make an exception this time.”

“Maybe we better wait until we get home,” EJ slipped out of John’s arms.

“But I like your blow-jobs,” John’s lower lip stuck out, “You do that thing with your ton-”

“It’s not the same effect if there’s no shower,” EJ interrupted quickly.

“But I was _kidnapped_ ,” John whined.

“And I rescued you,” EJ replied evenly.

“I bet if Danny got kidnapped,” John spoke petulantly, “Steve would give _him_ a blow-job.”

“They’re not together like that, John,” EJ bit her bottom lip to hold in her laughter as Danny’s jaw dropped.

“You’re not?” John directed the question to Steve.

“No,” Steve responded calmly, “We’re not.”

“Why aren’t you two screwing like bunnies in the springtime?” John gaped, “You’re obviously in love with each other. You’re clearly attracted to each other physically. You really should be having hot, sweaty sex with each other. And giving each other blow-jobs.  Those are important too.  Especially after someone's been kidnapped and rescued.”

Steve and Danny exchanged nervous glances, then looked over to EJ, silently pleading for help.

“Don’t look at me,” EJ laughed, raising her hands in surrender, “I happen to agree with the truth roofies about you two.”


	7. Chapter 7

EJ managed to get John and Danny drawn into a relatively safe conversation about the merits of college football versus pro-football before she slid a quick glance over to Steve, nodding towards the door with her chin while they were distracted. He followed her out the door, watching as she pulled it partially shut and walked just far enough away that she could still hear what they were saying.

“So, Commander,” EJ pulled her vest off, handing it and the P90 to Simmons when he came over, “How do you want to do this?”

“Do what exactly?” Steve handed his gun and vest to Simmons as well.

“We still need to find out who took the Colonel and why,” EJ pushed a hand against the wet spot on her uniform shirt, “but we’re going to have…clearance issues.”

“I’m going to assume that you’re referring to the guy with the lasers shooting out of his hands,” Steve crossed his arms across his chest.

“Among other things,” EJ nodded, “Yes. I need a place to keep these guys until I can question them. I’ll need your techs to go over the warehouse for evidence but there are certain classified things they need to be kept away from.”

“I can get SWAT out here to take the suspects back to the palace,” Steve offered, “Would it be better to wait until the containment team gets here and have them go over the warehouse instead?”

“Not really,” EJ shook her head, “The guys he’s sending aren’t trained to process crime scenes. They might miss something that your guys wouldn’t.”

“What if Edison’s team stayed with the CSU to supervise?” Steve asked.

EJ looked over to the opposite side of the warehouse where her team was gathering the bound men and tapped on her earpiece, “Cap, you and the boys okay staying here to supervise CSU?”

“ _You’ll square things with the dive sup_?” Edison questioned, pushing the last man into a circle with the others.  

“Of course,” EJ rolled her eyes, “I’d _love_ to have a talk with Commander Ross.”

“ _Yes, ma’am_ ,” Edison laughed, “ _I’m sure you would_. _What about the snake-head_?”

“The dead guy?” Steve questioned, “What about him?”

“I can’t release the body to your ME,” EJ explained, “but there might be evidence on him.”

“Why can’t you release the body?” Steve narrowed his eyes.

“It’s classified,” EJ answered calmly.

“Is it the reason you can’t release his body,” Steve raised an eyebrow, “or his body itself that’s classified?”

“You’re a smart guy, SuperSEAL,” EJ grinned, “You really think I’m going to answer that?”

“No, not really,” Steve replied with a wry smirk, “I’ll let the ME’s office know they can’t have the body, but still have to process it for evidence.”

“You get all that, Cap?” EJ wondered.

“ _Yes, ma’am_ ,” Edison agreed, “ _We’ll take care of it after the ME’s done_.”

“ _If we’re staying here_ ,” Lyon’s voice interrupted, “ _I need to look at your wound again._ ”

“I’m fine, Frankie,” EJ dropped her hand from her stomach, hiding it behind her back.

“ _EJ,_ ” Lyon looked up from what he was doing across the warehouse, “ _Hold up your left hand and let me see if there’s blood on it_.”

“I hate you, Frankie,” EJ flipped him off.

“ _No, you don’t_ ,” Lyon laughed, “ _I’ll be over when I’m done patching the holes in these guys_.”

“You’re fired,” EJ huffed, “Dickhead.”

“ _We taking the gear back or are you_?” Edison wondered.

“Did you have to steal it?” EJ questioned.

“ _I wouldn’t necessarily use the word ‘steal’_ ,” Edison hesitated, “‘ _Temporarily appropriated necessary equipment for a top-priority retrieval of a high-value military asset’ might be more accurate_.”

“Wow, that was almost believable,” EJ snorted, “Yeah, we’ll get a ride with HPD.”

“ _You suck_ ,” Edison sighed.

“Like a champion,” EJ laughed, “You missed John’s complaining when he didn’t get his post-kidnapping fun.”  

“ _Things I do NOT want to know about my CO_ ,” Edison insisted as he tapped off his radio.

“Guess we better started making phone calls,” EJ turned back to Steve, “I don’t suppose John and I are going to be able to get back in our house any time soon?”

“It’s a crime scene,” Steve shook his head, “You can head back to grab some of your stuff, but you can’t stay.”

“That’s what I figured,” EJ sighed, “Suppose it’s for the best anyway, at least until we find out who’s after the Colonel. You know a secure place for us to stay?”

“I might know a place,” Steve looked over EJ’s shoulder as Danny and John emerged from the office.

“Does this place have room service?” EJ asked as she turned around, “Because I can’t cook for crap.”

“No,” Steve smiled, “But there’s a beach.”

 

_*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*_

 

While Steve called HPD to get them out to the airfield, Guttman brought EJ’s duffel back from the chopper. EJ pulled out a pair of black BDU pants in John’s size and talked him into putting them on, carefully keeping the wet spot on her uniform out of his direct sightline. After he was dressed again, Steve drew John away, keeping him distracted talking about unimportant things while Lyon took EJ to the other side of the warehouse to check her injury. When EJ came back she took off the second holster with the cylindrical object, sticking it back in her duffel as she pulled out a second black uniform shirt.

By the time SWAT and CSU showed up, there were no overt signs of anything classified or any injuries. Steve and Danny traded off distracting John again, Danny taking him over to an unmarked police car while Steve and EJ explained what was going to happen in the warehouse. CSU initially protested, but when EJ started to threaten them, Steve interrupted to explain that it was a matter of national security. The head CSU tech agreed reluctantly to allow Edison and his team to supervise the evidence collection.

A uniform drove Steve, Danny, John, and EJ back to Pearl to pick up Danny’s car. Steve drove them back to John’s house to grab clothes, then took all four of them back to his house. EJ protested, telling Steve that she and John didn’t want to impose, but Steve insisted his house was the safest place he knew. Danny set up the guest room for John and EJ, claiming the couch for himself. Steve called Chin and Kono, letting them know not to come into work until nine the next morning.

The next morning, Steve woke up at seven, careful not to wake anyone else as he went out for his morning swim. When he got back at eight, Danny and John were in the kitchen, sharing a cup of coffee and having a quiet conversation, already dressed for the day. John wore a [short-sleeved, dark-blue button up, the top couple buttons open](http://favimages.net/image/160733/), and a worn pair of jeans. Danny wore a [white and blue pinstriped dress shirt ](http://static.tvgcdn.net/MediaBin/Content/100712/News/Todays_News_Our_Take/1_mon/100712magazine-scott-caan1.jpg)with a pair of light gray slacks, his badge and gun in place on his belt.

“Feeling better this morning?” Steve asked, draping his towel over the chair.

“Yeah,” John set down his coffee cup, “Sorry about the whole…truth roofies thing.”

“No problem,” Steve assured him, “You didn’t say anything that bad.”

“I remember most of what I said,” John stood, making his way over to pour coffee into a second cup, “I’m not entirely sure that’s true, but thanks.”

“We can head into the office whenever you’re ready,” Steve offered, “The guys we rounded up last night are all there, including the one EJ knocked out at the house. He was brought in from the hospital early this morning.”

“She got one in the house?” John questioned, adding an obscene amount of sugar to the coffee.

“Three actually,” Danny explained, “Two dead, one tied up with shoelaces when we got there. She didn’t say anything to you?”

“No,” John held out the coffee cup as EJ came into the room, “She didn’t.”

EJ was dressed in a [dark-teal sleeveless blouse](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OQZfVlJUT34/T8_OImHbttI/AAAAAAAAB0I/IlMFZDmYtEg/s320/Green+Top.jpg), loose around her mid-section, and a [slim pair of dark jeans](http://i00.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/1082314940_1/YM324-women-2013-fashion-brief-pencil-jeans-skinny-pants-female-dark-blue-black-slim-jeans-summer.jpg) tucked into a short pair of [black motorcycle boots](http://i00.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v1/713501222_1/-font-b-Womens-b-font-Motorcycle-font-b-Boots-b-font-font-b-Combat-b.jpg). She took the cup from John, mumbling in something that sounded almost like Latin as she started sipping the coffee. John responded in the same odd language, his jaw tightening as EJ replied again. They had a short conversation in the strange language before John held up his hand, cutting EJ off in the middle of her sentence.

“Emmaline,” John warned, “Put the coffee cup down.”

“John,” EJ pouted.

“Now,” John ordered.

EJ set the coffee mug carefully on the table. John crooked a finger and EJ sighed heavily before coming to stand in front of him. John lifted the front of her blouse, exposing the bandage on the right side of her stomach. He peeled the tape and gauze away, looking at the carefully stitched skin.

“Emma,” John sighed.

“It’s not that bad, _carissime_ ,” EJ spoke softly.  [Latin: dear one.]

“You should have told me,” John ran his thumb over the unbroken skin around the wound.

“You were doped up,” EJ reminded him.  

“Not for the first time,” John put the bandage back in place, “and not for the last, I'm sure. You still should've mentioned it.”

“Fine, next time I get kicked through a window by bad guys breaking into your brother’s house,” EJ’s voice dripped with sarcasm, “I’ll be sure to tell you whether you’re doped up or not.”

“That’s more like it,” John leaned down for a quick kiss, “Go drink your coffee.”

“Yes, sir, Colonel, sir,” EJ rolled her eyes, “Anything else, sir?”

“Keep it up, Em,” John mouth twitched into a smile, “See what happens.”

“You don’t scare me,” EJ picked up her coffee cup and turned to Steve, “As nice as it is to see your lovely shirtless chest, Steve, maybe you could get dressed so we could go find out who wants my husband for nefarious purposes this time?”

“Hey,” John protested, “Mine’s the only naked chest you get to admire.”

“Whatever you say, dear,” EJ patted his arm.  

“Nefarious?” Steve questioned.

“Yes, nefarious, Steven,” Danny got up to clear away the dishes, “meaning wicked or criminal. See also egregious, heinous, atrocious…”

“Iniquitous,” EJ continued, smiling widely at Danny, “diabolical, vile.”

“I know what nefarious means,” Steve insisted.

“I can say it in different languages,” EJ grinned around the rim of her coffee cup, “if you’d like.”

“Really?” Danny asked curiously, “How many different languages?”

“Quite a few,” EJ admitted, “I’m a linguist so it’s kind of my job.”  

“Not necessary,” Steve held a hand to forestall them, “Let me take a quick shower then we’ll head out.”

“We’re stopping for malasadas,” Danny told Steve, “You’ve got nothing but MREs and twinkies in your kitchen again.”

“Malasadas sound fantastic,” EJ set her empty coffee cup down and headed toward the stairs, “Good idea, Jersey.”

“I have a name, Blondie,” Danny called after her.

“I thought Jersey _was_ your name,” EJ yelled back.

“Pain in the ass,” Danny shouted.

“Loudmouth,” EJ retorted loudly.

Steve looked over at John, who only shrugged and handed Danny the empty coffee cup from the table.

“What are you waiting for, McGarrett?” Danny made a shooing motion at Steve, “Get dressed. Malasadas await.”

“You don’t like my ‘lovely shirtless chest’?” Steve smirked.

“It’s a very nice chest,” Danny rolled his eyes, “It’s also very distracting. Get dressed please.”

“If you insist,” Steve sighed heavily, picking up his towel and heading out of the room.

John waited until Steve was halfway up the stairs before he looked Danny over carefully.

“What?” Danny asked, “I spill coffee on my shirt or something?”

“No,” John shook his head.

“What’s with the look then?” Danny wondered.

“What look?” John claimed, “There was no look.”

“There was definitely a look,” Danny looked over to EJ as she came back in the room, “Why is your husband looking at me funny?”

“Were you looking at Jersey funny, John?” EJ handed him a black wallet and a gold badge.

“I wasn’t,” John clipped the badge on his belt and shoved the wallet in his back pocket.

“He definitely was,” Danny insisted.

“He was probably thinking about the conversation from last night,” EJ clipped another badge onto her belt.

“Which one?” Danny leaned back against the counter.

“The one about you and your partner,” John smirked.

“What _about_ me and my partner?” Danny asked cautiously.

John exchanged glances with EJ, both of them smiling widely.

“Are you two really not together?” John slipped an arm around EJ’s waist when she came to stand next to him.

“No, we’re not,” Danny huffed, “Why does everyone ask that?”

“You told McGarrett he had a nice chest,” John pointed out, “and that it was very distracting.”  

“He did?” EJ looked up at John.

“He did,” John agreed.

“Interesting,” EJ turned back to Danny.

“Where’d you get the badges?” Danny changed the subject quickly.

“They’re from Homeland Security,” EJ explained, grinning at Danny’s slight blush, “I got them from my boss before we went on leave. I figured if we had any problems, a DHS badge would be helpful.”

“So you’re impersonating Homeland Security agents?” Danny questioned.

“I technically work for the Military Operations Division of DHS,” EJ clarified, “so it’s not really impersonation.”

“Homeland has a Military Operations Division?” Danny raised an eyebrow.

“Since 2004,” EJ nodded, “The current head of the division, my boss General Landry, gave John special permission to use the badge if necessary. I called him in DC this morning to let him know we'd be using them until this was sorted.”

“I’m still confused as to what exactly you guys do,” Danny waved a hand between the two of them, “Air Force, Marines, Navy, DHS.”

“Don’t forget the Army,” John drawled.

“Coast Guard,” EJ continued, “NCIS, Russian Ground Forces, British Paratroopers, and a Canadian Mountie, just to name a few. That doesn’t even begin to count the civilians.”

“A Mountie?” Danny asked skeptically.

“The evil little Canadian that runs the book on base,” EJ reminded him, “the one I told you about? He’s a Mountie.”

“I’m just going to stop asking,” Danny shook his head, “I’m getting a headache thinking about it.”

“Probably for the best,” John agreed.


	8. Chapter 8

Chin and Kono were waiting just inside the entrance to Five-O headquarters when Steve and Danny arrived, John and EJ behind them.

“Bossman,” Kono started evenly, “Something you want to tell us?”

“About what?” Steve wondered.

“About the military taking over our offices,” Chin stated.

“You didn’t tell them?” Danny hooked his thumb at Chin and Kono.

“When was I supposed to tell them?” Steve questioned.

“Bad Steve,” EJ shook her finger at him.

“Bad Steve,” Danny agreed, “The Governor temporarily assigned Five-O to Colonel Baran.”

“Colonel Baran?” Chin asked.

“That’s me,” EJ raised a hand, “Hi.”

“I’ve found it’s better if you don’t ask too many questions,” Danny responded to the confused faces Chin and Kono now wore.

“If our teams are here,” John drawled, “We’ll be able to explain further. Come on.”

EJ pushed past them, walking up to a [tall brunette man in Air Force dress blues](http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm204/whytewytch/Stargate%20SG1/Major%20Davis/MajorDaviswithgun.jpg), taking a tablet from his outstretched hand.

“Hello, I’m Lt. Colonel Davis,” the brunette introduced himself politely, shaking hands with all the Five-O team members, “Nice to meet all of you.”

“Who did the autopsy?” EJ scrolled through the tablet, a frown starting to form on her face.

“Dr. Greene,” Davis answered easily, “He finished about an hour ago. I figured you’d want the results right away, considering.”

“All I wanted to do was take a vacation,” EJ sighed, handing the tablet to John.

“What’s wrong?” Danny asked.

“I’m pretty sure the universe hates me,” EJ made a sweeping motion towards the ceiling.

“That’s not really an answer,” Danny rolled his eyes.

Davis reached into a briefcase and pulled out four very thick folders, setting them on the computer table in front of the team.

“I need the four of you to sign all the marked sections,” Davis produced four pens from his briefcase as well, “Then I can bring you up to speed.”

“There’s almost an inch thick of papers here,” Danny flipped his open to the top page, “What are we supposed to be signing?”

“Non-disclosure agreements,” Davis explained, “General Mitchell has granted Five-O security clearance to assist Colonels Baran and Sheppard with this investigation.”

“What could we _possibly_ be doing that requires all this?” Kono motioned towards the papers.

“Until you sign, it’s classified,” Davis insisted.

“And if we don’t sign?” Steve crossed his arms across his chest, “Then what?”

“Then you’ll be removed from the case,” Davis answered evenly, “and sent home until the completion.”

“Why us?” Chin asked calmly, “You obviously have the resources to investigate this yourselves. What do you need us for?”

“Only a dozen people knew our itinerary,” John replied, “All of whom work for the same organization we do.”

“‘Plumbing problem’,” Steve remembered, “You think there’s a leak.”

“I’m… _concerned_ about the possibility of information getting into the wrong hands,” EJ corrected, “I need people on the outside that I can trust.”

“And you trust us?” Danny asked cautiously.

“I wouldn’t have called last night if I didn’t trust your team,” EJ declared.

“General Mitchell ran deep background on each of you while I was on my way here,” Davis added, “You wouldn’t have those non-disclosure agreements in front of you if the United States government didn't think you could be trusted with classified intel.”

“Boss?” Kono asked warily.

“It’s up to you guys,” Steve picked up his pen and opened the folder, “I’m not going to order you.”

“I’m going to regret this,” Danny started signing, “I can already tell.”

“Nah, brah,” Kono grinned as she flipped her folder open, “It sounds like fun.”  

“Define fun,” Chin looked up from where he was writing.

 

_*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*_

 

When Davis finished his explanation an hour later, the room was eerily silent.

“Is this a joke?” Danny wondered quietly.

“No, Detective,” Davis shook his head, “This is not a joke.”

“He’s serious,” Danny laughed nervously, looking over to Steve, “This guy is serious.”

“You okay, Danno?” Steve questioned cautiously.

“Are you kidding me?” Danny’s accent thickened and he started waving his hands wildly in the air as he spoke, “No, I am not _okay_. In what _universe_ is this okay? It’s bad enough I have to worry about all the terrorists, gun runners, drug dealers, and various other stupid people on this planet. Now I have to worry about _aliens_ destroying the Earth too? And these so-called aliens? Take over a human body as a host. Because I’m not freaked out enough as it is, now I’m going to be worried that every person that acts even a little bit evil has been taken over by a malicious alien snake. And these two schmucks,” Danny gestured heatedly at John and EJ, “are actually in charge of keeping our planet safe. Let me tell you what I know about them. John gets kidnapped by aliens on a semi-regular basis - often enough that there’s actually a pool going about who goes to rescue him. And EJ here, she rivals McGarrett for the ‘how many stupid Rambo things can I do in one day’ prize. Including - but not limited to – getting kicked through a window, ending up with glass sticking out of her side, and _still_ going on a raid; all in one night. A raid where we all almost got killed by an alien weapon that shoots _laser beams_. Which brings me full circle to my original point…No, by no definition of the word am I _okay_.”

“Danny,” Steve grabbed Danny’s still waving hands, holding them still between them, “Take a breath.”

Danny inhaled and exhaled slowly.

“You done?” Steve questioned.

“For now,” Danny dropped hands with Steve, running one over his hair to smooth it out, “I reserve the right to pick up again later.”

“Noted,” Steve smirked.

“Did you call me a schmuck?” EJ asked.

“I may have,” Danny admitted.

“That wasn’t very nice,” EJ put her hands on her hips.

“You just told me aliens were real,” Danny mirrored her pose, “What did you expect my reaction to be?”

“Honestly?” EJ grinned, “I thought steam might start shooting out of your ears.”

“If you have things covered from here, Colonels,” Davis interjected, “I’ll head back to the Mountain to coordinate.”

“Yeah, we’ll take it from here, Davis,” John nodded, “Thanks for coming out.”

“Before you go back,” EJ turned to him, “There’s one more thing I want you to do, if you don’t mind.”

“If I can,” Davis closed his briefcase.

“There’s an ER nurse at Pearl named Susan O’Leary,” EJ explained, “Red hair, green eyes, about 5’9”, early thirties. I’m pretty sure she’s a descendant. Run her background and if she checks out, offer her a job in the City.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Davis agreed, “But you have to tell Mitchell and Landry you’re recruiting someone else.”

“Hey,” EJ protested, “All my recruits have worked out well so far, haven’t they?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Davis nodded, “But Mitchell is still upset that you took Daniel and Vala, among others, from the Mountain. I believe he said something about you collecting anyone with the gene in a thousand mile radius.”

“That’s-” EJ started.

“Entirely true,” John interrupted.

“I do not _collect_ people,” EJ insisted.

“Yes, you do, Em,” John laughed.

“They’re my _progenies_ ,” EJ huffed, “I’m allowed to collect them if I want.” [Latin: descendants]

“You know it sounds weird when you say it like that, right?” Davis half-smiled.

“Go away, Paul,” EJ commanded.

“I’m leaving, EJ,” Davis laughed as he made his way out of the office, “Good luck with your investigation.”

“Speaking of investigations,” John picked up the tablet, handing it to Chin, “Now that you guys have been briefed, we can get started.”

“That tablet has the autopsy Dr. Greene performed on the body from the warehouse last night,” EJ gestured to Kono, “Could you put it up on the screen please?”

“You mean the alien that we killed,” Danny snarked.

“Yes, Jersey,” EJ rolled her eyes, “The host body to the Goa’uld symbiote that Lt. Commander McGarrett killed.”

“Just wanted to be clear,” Danny declared.

“According to Dr. Greene,” EJ continued, “The symbiote had been in that host for at least two hundred years.”

“They can survive that long?” Chin asked curiously.

“Longer actually,” EJ informed them, “As long as the symbiote has access to a sarcophagus or a new host every couple hundred years, they can survive for thousands of years.”

“What did they want with you then?” Steve looked to John, “If they have access to advanced technology already, what do they need you for?”

“Could be any number of things,” John shrugged, “My access to the Stargate, the fact that I have the ATA gene, the fact that I’m linked to the City. They could’ve needed me to get to someone else inside the Stargate program, I’m not really sure. We didn’t get much of a chance to talk before you guys busted in.”

“What’s the ATA gene?” Kono wondered.

“There was another advanced race of aliens called the Ancients or Alterans,” EJ explained, “They came back to Earth from another galaxy about ten thousand years ago. Some of them mixed with the people of here, marrying and having children. Anyone who is descended from them has a form of the gene, active or dormant. They used that specific gene as a safeguard in their technology. Only someone with the gene can activate Ancient tech.”

“Only about six percent of the population has the gene,” John continued, “and only half of those have the active gene. We’ve developed a gene therapy to activate the dormant gene in those that have it, but those who have the active gene, like Emma and me, tend to have an easier time using Ancient tech.”

“The Ancients are the ones who actually created the Stargates,” EJ picked up where John left off, “The Goa’uld have scavenged and adapted almost all their tech from other advanced races, including the Ancients.”

“Okay,” Chin nodded, “What about the link to the city you’re talking about?”

“That’s…” John looked over to EJ, “…complicated and extremely classified.”

“If it has to do with you getting kidnapped,” Steve crossed his arms across his chest, “we need to know about it.”

“The base John and I work out of...” EJ started hesitantly, “We call it ‘the City’. It was designed and built millions of years ago by the Alterans. A couple years ago, we discovered the City was run by an elaborate AI, artificial intelligence, program. John and I, along with several others, were telepathically linked to the City’s AI.”

“Did you say telepathically linked?” Danny asked nervously.

“Yes,” EJ stated evenly, “And I’m not willing to give you any more information about either the City or the _Cultore_ link at this time. If we discover over the course of the investigation that it’s connected to John’s kidnapping, I’ll reconsider my position.”

Steve held EJ’s calm stare for a minute before he turned back to his team, “Kono, get with CSU. See if they have any results from the warehouse or Sheppard’s house yet.”

“Sure thing, Boss,” Kono agreed easily.

“Can you have someone from your team brief Chin on any classified things they found?” Steve looked over to EJ.

“I’ll call Captain Hailey,” EJ pulled a slim cell phone from her back pocket, “Ask her to come by and fill him in.”

“John,” Steve turned to him, “I’d like you to sit down with Danny, retrace your steps since you’ve been on the island. We have to consider the possibility that there is no leak and they found you another way.”

“Of course,” John nodded.

“That means you and I get to go question bad guys,” EJ smiled dangerously up at Steve.

“Yes, it does,” Steve returned the grin.

“No shark tanks,” Danny scowled at the two of them, “No grenades. No hanging people off roofs. No tear gas. No hitting. No shooting. Behave yourselves.”

“I know, D,” Steve rolled his eyes at Danny.

“You’re no fun, Jersey,” EJ pouted.

“I don’t care,” Danny shook his head.

“What’s your stance on threatening them with knives?” EJ tilted her head to the side.

“No,” Danny insisted.

“What about kicking?” Steve asked, “You didn’t say anything about kicking.”

“No kicking either, Steven,” Danny pointed a finger at him.

“What about-” EJ started.

“I’m going to go out on a limb here,” Danny interrupted, “and say the answer’s no.”

“Spoilsport,” EJ pouted.


	9. Chapter 9

A couple hours of interrogations had left Steve with nothing more than a growing sense of frustration and a strong urge to blow something up. So far, none of the men in custody had provided any useful information. In fact, most had refused to talk at all. The couple that did only asked when they would get their phone call. Steve and EJ were about to head into the interrogation room holding the last man. He was one of the men picked up at the warehouse at the airfield. He’d ended up with a dislocated shoulder from Edison.

“Relax, Steve,” EJ squeezed Steve’s bicep, “Violence is not the answer to your frustration. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“It doesn’t bother you that none of these guys have anything to say?” Steve questioned.

“I didn’t think any of the other guys knew anything,” EJ shrugged, “I’ve been saving this guy for last. He’s different than the others.”

“Different how?” Steve scowled slightly.

“When Frankie was fixing my stitches in the warehouse,” EJ explained, “He made sure to bring me close enough to have a clear view of all the suspects. The other guys, they were all looking at this guy. But this guy was looking at John the entire time. I think he was one of the ones in charge.”

“And if he’s giving the orders, he’s bound to know more than the others about why Sheppard was taken,” Steve nodded in understanding. 

“Exactly,” EJ agreed, “I wanted to make sure the others were just minions before I talked to the guy in charge. It’s rare, but I could’ve been wrong.”

“Did you just use the word ‘minions’?” Steve tried to hold back his smile.

“Do you prefer goons?” EJ smirked, “Underlings perhaps?”

“Come on,” Steve shook his head and opened the door to the interrogation room. He let EJ go in first and pulled the door shut behind them.

The man was sitting silently in the chair, eyes opening when EJ took a step closer. He was dressed in a black dress shirt, white and blue sling holding his right arm in place, a pair of gray slacks, and a pair of black leather loafers. He had black hair, still artfully tousled after being in a holding cell all night, deep brown eyes, and deeply tanned skin.

“Hello,” EJ greeted him politely, gesturing to Steve, “This is Commander McGarrett of Five-O. I’m Special Agent Sheppard with Homeland Security. What’s your name?”

The man remained silent, still staring at EJ.

“The lady asked you a question,” Steve took a threatening step forward, “Answer her.”

“Kai West,” the man answered evenly.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. West,” EJ inclined her head, “We just have a few questions for you, if you don’t mind.”

“Why did you kidnap Colonel Sheppard?” Steve asked.

“I’d like to make a phone call,” West stated calmly, keeping his gaze on EJ.

“Absolutely, Mr. West,” EJ agreed easily, “Just as soon as you answer a couple questions.”

“I’d also like a lawyer,” West continued, “before I answer anything.”

“That is, of course, your right,” EJ nodded, “There’s only one problem, however.”

“Problem?” West asked.

“A minor issue,” EJ explained, “Unfortunately for you, the person you kidnapped, Colonel John Sheppard, he’s involved with an internationally classified program. Anyone who acts against personnel involved in this particular program is automatically considered an international terrorist. Do you understand what that means, Mr. West?”

“That means,” Steve crossed his arms across his chest, “No phone call, no lawyer, no due process, nothing. They only thing you’re getting is a one-way ticket to the deepest, darkest hole we can find.”

“I can help prevent all that, Mr. West,” EJ claimed, “If you were willing to cooperate and answer a few questions.”

“You don’t scare me,” West finally turned to Steve and laughed, “Go ahead and throw me in your hole, Commander.”

“You think I won’t do it?” Steve glared at West.

“You misunderstand, Commander,” West shifted the arm in his sling, “I don’t care if you do it or not.”

“Interesting,” EJ tilted her head to the side.

“What’s interesting?” Steve looked to EJ.  

“He means that,” EJ clarified, meeting Steve’s gaze, “He really doesn’t care.”

“He doesn’t care?” Steve frowned.

“You really aren’t afraid of Commander McGarrett or his threats,” EJ turned back to West, “Are you, Mr. West?”  

“Why would I be?” West questioned.

“That’s not the part I find interesting though,” EJ stepped closer.

Steve noticed the vein in West’s neck started pulsing faster as EJ lifted a hand, running a single finger down the side of West’s face as she leaned over to speak quietly in his ear.

“The part I find interesting, Kai,” EJ smiled dangerously as West barely contained his flinch when she put a hand gently on his shoulder, “is that you _are_ afraid of me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” West insisted nervously.

“I think you’ll find it very difficult to lie to me,” EJ straightened, walking in a circle around West, “Most people, especially anyone who had been on the island for any extended amount of time, would be more concerned about Commander McGarrett and his _reputation_ for using whatever means necessary to apprehend criminals.”

“The rumors about the shark cage are true,” Steve grinned proudly.

“But not you,” EJ kept circling West, “You’re more concerned about a DHS agent who has been nothing but polite to you.”

“I’m not-” West started.

“Only people who know me, know what I’m capable of,” EJ interrupted, “would be smart enough to fear me over Commander McGarrett. You being afraid of me leads me to the conclusion that you know who I am, Kai, or at least know what I’m capable of. Which means you also know it’s in your best interests to answer my questions.”

“I can’t,” West swore quietly.

“You can,” EJ stopped circling to stand in front of West again, “Why was Colonel Sheppard targeted?”

“I don’t know,” West insisted.

“Yes, you do,” EJ slipped a hand into her jeans pocket, producing a [multi-colored butterfly knife with an ocean blue handle](http://www.topswords.com/image/cache/data/CH-142-50-500x500.jpg). She flipped it open with a showy movement and stepped close to West again. She slid the blade under the first button on his shirt, “Why take Colonel Sheppard?”

“I don’t know,” West repeated.  

EJ sliced off the first button of his shirt, then moved the knife slowly down to the second button.

“Eventually I’m going to run out of buttons, Kai,” EJ spoke evenly, “Then I’ll have to find something more interesting to cut. Why did you and your men take Colonel Sheppard?”

“Even if I were to tell you,” West held EJ’s stare, “There’s nothing you can do.”

“You’d be surprised what I can do, Kai,” EJ’s voice hardened, “Why was Colonel Sheppard kidnapped?”

“Because of what he is,” West answered carefully.  

“And what is he, exactly?” EJ inquired calmly.

“The same thing as you, _Antiquitas_ ,” West responded. [Latin: Ancient – Alteran]

“What does that mean?” Steve asked.

“How would you know that?” EJ ignored Steve’s interruption.

“Because my _Dominae_ recognized the markings you and he bear,” West flicked his glance to EJ’s left forearm. [Latin: Mistress]

“What need does your Mistress have for _Antiqui_?” EJ narrowed her eyes.

“I don’t know,” West responded, “I only know that we were sent to acquire John Sheppard.”

“After you ‘acquired’ him, then what?” EJ pulled the knife away from West, holding it loosely against her side, “What were you looking for in his memories?”

“I don’t know that either,” West said evenly, “My _Domniae_ sent one of her most trusted to question him.”

“Her most trusted?” EJ raised an eyebrow, “You mean the Goa’uld killed in the warehouse?”

“Yes,” West answered simply.

“How did your Mistress know where to find Colonel Sheppard?” EJ asked.

“I was only given an address and a picture,” West explained, “My orders were to take Sheppard to the warehouse at the airfield, where someone would be waiting to question him.”

“Why only Sheppard?” EJ questioned, “If you needed him because he was _Antiquita,_ why not take both of us?”

“I was told that you were too dangerous to hold and that I should dispose of you as I saw fit,” West replied evenly, “My _Dominae_ only wanted Sheppard.”

“I’m not sure if I should be flattered or not,” EJ flicked her knife closed and slipped it back into her pocket, “I have only one final question, Kai. What’s your Mistress’s name?”

“I serve the Goddess Pele,” West spoke reverently.

“She is not a Goddess,” EJ turned around, motioning for Steve to open the door, “She is a parasite, a fraud who convinces weak minds like yours that she is something more.”

“You can’t protect your husband, Special Agent Sheppard,” West stated evenly, “Pele has decided she wants him. He belongs to my _Dominae_ now. It’s only a matter of time before she takes him from you.”

EJ stopped in the doorway, looking back to West over her shoulder, “She’s welcome to try.”

Steve closed the door behind them, looking over to see EJ taking deep breaths, her hands clenched into fists.

“You good?” Steve asked carefully.

“I’m fine,” EJ insisted.

“Violence is not the answer to your frustration,” Steve repeated EJ’s earlier words with a smirk.

EJ snorted, giving Steve a wry look as some of the visible tension dissipated from her body.

“So are you going to tell me what just went on in there?” Steve leaned back against the wall, “Because from what I could tell, the guy’s a couple bullets short of a full clip.”

“Actually,” EJ sighed, “He most likely perfectly sane. The Goa’uld we’ve met before took on the personas of locals deities, using their advanced technologies to pose as Gods. It’s possible one of them took on the mantel of Pele.”

“What does that word mean…an-keey-something?” Steve questioned, “The one he used to describe you and John.”

“It means they want John for his ATA gene,” EJ frowned in confusion, “It’s strange though. Whoever this Pele is, she has enough information to know that I’m too dangerous to hold anywhere. She also knew where John’s sub-Q transmitter was and how to disable it. The fact that she even knows the gene exists is unusual. If she has access to that kind of intel, I find it hard to believe that she doesn’t also know that I have a higher concentration of the gene than John. She wants him _specifically_ for something.”

“What can he access or do that you can’t?” Steve wondered.

“That’s just it,” EJ tilted her head, “There’s nothing. He and I have the same level access in everything. The only thing difference I can think of is that he’s the military commander of the City.”

“Maybe this Pele wanted to use him as a host,” Steve suggested, “Take over or damage the City.”  

“But we get so many medical examinations,” EJ shook her head, “There’s little chance the symbiote would be able to cause any serious damage before we found and removed it.”

“We’ll figure it out, EJ,” Steve assured her.

“We’d better,” EJ huffed.

“I don’t suppose John would agree to go back to the base,” Steve asked wryly, “for his own safety. Let us take care of catching the freaky alien?”

“I highly doubt it,” EJ laughed, “But I’ll ask him. Maybe he’ll suddenly gain some common sense.”

“Guess I’d better figure out how to tell the rest of my team we’re looking for the 'Goddess Pele',” Steve pushed away from the wall, “They’re not going to believe me.”

“They can always watch the footage from interrogation,” EJ smiled.

“Yeah, I suppose,” Steve agreed, “But then you’ll have to explain to Danny why you threatened West with a knife after he explicitly forbid you to do so.”

“I didn’t threaten West,” EJ argued, “I threatened his shirt. There’s totally a difference.”

“I’m not sure Danno will see it that way,” Steve grinned.

“I’m going to get a lecture,” EJ grimaced, “Aren’t I?”

“Oh yeah,” Steve nodded.


	10. Chapter 10

“Did you get anything out of the guys downstairs?” Danny looked over when Steve and EJ came into the squad room.

“Yes and no,” EJ answered, meeting John's curious gaze for a second before looking back to Danny.   

“What does that mean?” Danny questioned.

“Well, they were definitely after Sheppard specifically,” Steve responded, exchanging a glance with EJ.

“Where are Chin and Kono?” EJ asked curiously.

“Max called to say he finished the autopsies of the three bodies he was allowed to take,” Danny explained, “Kono went to get the results. Chin disappeared with Captain Hailey shortly after she showed up to go over alien tech.”

“Did you make any progress retracing Sheppard’s steps since he’s been on the island?” Steve looked to Danny.

“We have,” Danny agreed, “We’re going over the list of places now to see if we can get any security footage from the times you were there. Did you get anything else from the suspects?”

“Most of them didn’t have any useful information,” Steve offered, “About half of them asked to make a phone call, to a lawyer I’m sure.”

“You said ‘most of them’,” Danny pointed a finger at Steve, “Does that mean one of them had something helpful to say?”

“The guy whose shoulder was dislocated,” Steve looked at Danny, “His name is Kai West. We need to find out everything we can about him. He was the only one that had anything relevant to the case.”

“Relevant how?” Danny prompted.

“West was the one that set up the kidnapping,” Steve explained, “He didn’t know much. He was given an address and a photo with instructions to take Colonel Sheppard to the airfield to meet the snake-head for questioning.”

“Emmaline,” John narrowed his eyes at her, “What aren’t you telling me?”

“What makes you think I’m not telling you something, John?” EJ wondered.

“Because you’re purposely blocking me,” John replied evenly, “More than you usually would. Since it’s not my birthday, I’m pretty sure you’re not planning a surprise party. What else did you find out?”

“West is working for someone else,” EJ held John’s stare, “Someone who recognizes that the symbols we wear mark us as _Antiqui_.”

“Oh,” John shoved his hands in his pockets, “That’s…”

“Bad, yeah,” EJ nodded.

“Both of us or just me?” John asked carefully.

“Just you,” EJ informed him, “West was terrified of me.”

“Well,” John sighed, “Shit.”

“Yup,” EJ agreed.

“You at least get a name?” John drawled.

“Apparently, the ‘Goddess Pele’,” EJ used her fingers to make air quotes, “has taken a liking to you.”

“Just once,” John rolled his eyes, “I’d like to be wanted for something other than my genes.”

“Whoa, time out here,” Danny held up his hands, “First, what symbols mark you as a…whatever that word is?”

“These,” John and EJ spoke in unison, tapping the pale blue silver tattoos on their arms in a mirror image of each other.

“Okay, that’s creepy,” Danny looked between the two of them, “What do the symbols mean?”

“It’s Ancient writing,” EJ explained, “Only someone with a very particular ATA gene can wear these. The fact that she recognized them means the snake we’re hunting is either extremely old, which makes her very dangerous, or has access to the most classified information on the planet, which makes her very dangerous.”

“That’s mildly disturbing,” Danny scowled, “My second question: Why is it bad that West is terrified of you?”

“If you didn’t know me,” EJ tilted her head to the side, “and I came into the room with McGarrett, which of us would you be more concerned about?”

“Steve’s more imposing obviously,” Danny replied dryly, “But knowing the two of you, I might…oh.”

“Yeah,” EJ nodded, “This Pele apparently knows enough about me to order West to dispose of me rather than trying to hold me somewhere.”

“It’s looking more and more like you have a leak,” Danny pointed out.

“My question now,” EJ stated evenly, “Is how old is this leak we most likely have?”

“You’ve had leaks before?” Steve crossed his arms across his chest.

“Yes,” EJ replied shortly, absently rubbing her fingers over a scar on her right forearm.

“What happened?” Danny asked cautiously.

“The Stargate program is supervised by a group called the International Oversight Advisory,” John moved around the table to stop EJ rubbing her arm, resting his hand over hers on the table, “We discovered a year ago that the head of the senior committee, a man named Dr. Carl Strom, was helping a traitor in DHS by the name of Edmund Sharp sell secrets to the highest bidder. Including highly classified information regarding Emma’s past and her unique skill set.”

“There was nothing in the news about a traitor in Homeland Security,” Danny said curiously, “I would’ve thought that would be all over the place.”

“Both of them had information about the Stargate program,” John explained, “It would’ve been kept out of the news for security reasons.”

“Where are Strom and Sharp now?” Steve questioned, “Can we question them, find out if they sold information to this Pele person at some point?”

“I don’t think Strom would’ve sold any information to a snake-head,” EJ shook her head, “He was more of a ‘Protect Earth at all costs’ kind of guy. If he had known about a Goa’uld on Hawaii, the island would’ve been swarming with SGC personnel years ago. I’ll ask Cam to send someone to have a chat with him today, just in case I’m wrong.”

“What about this Sharp guy?” Danny made a vague hand gesture, “You said he was selling to the highest bidder.”

“Sharp is unavailable for questioning,” John stated calmly.

“Considering the circumstances,” Danny barely refrained from rolling his eyes, “Can you make him available for a while?”

“He’s catatonic,” EJ replied quietly, “He’s been that way since…for a year. He was never questioned.”

“The only information we have on Sharp and his organization is all second hand,” John continued, “From the hard drives we discovered when his facilities were raided and from the people he employed.”

“Can we get copies of those files?” Steve asked, “Maybe we can find a connection to the islands somewhere.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” EJ nodded, looking up at John, “In the meantime, I think you should go back to the City for your own safety.”

“Sure,” John drawled, “In five days when we’re scheduled to go back.”

“John,” EJ pulled her hand out from under his and turned to face him fully, “It’s the best option.”

“Fine,” John spoke evenly, “You can come back with me.”

“Someone has to stay here to find the Goa’uld,” EJ pointed out, “And someone has to figure out if we have another leak.”

“If you’re staying, I’m staying,” John insisted.

“Sheppard,” EJ clenched her jaw, “I need you to leave so I can do my job.”

“What _job_ , Emmaline?” John questioned, “Finding thousand year old snakes on Earth is not your job.”

“Yes it is,” EJ jabbed a finger into John’s chest, “When that snake goes after the _Verus Imperator_. Protecting you is my job.”  [Latin: True Protector]

“Do not poke me,” John ordered calmly, “I am perfectly capable of protecting myself, _Verus Defensor_. I don’t need you to do it for me.”  [Latin: True Guardian] 

“I will do whatever I damn well please,” EJ jabbed him again, “And you’ve never had to go against a Goa’uld before. You have no idea what they are capable of.”

John’s eyes narrowed as he grabbed EJ’s wrist, saying something angrily in the bizarre Latin from earlier in the morning. EJ replied severely in the same language, trying and failing to pull her arm from his grip.

“Excuse us for a minute,” John didn’t spare a glance for Steve and Danny as he pulled EJ to Steve’s office. They were already arguing loudly in the odd language before the door shut all the way, EJ’s hands waving animatedly through the air after John released his grip.

“They’re either going to end up killing each other,” Danny turned away from Steve’s office, “or having sex on top of your desk. I give it a fifty-fifty chance either way.”

“No one gets to have sex on my desk but me,” Steve gave Danny a lop-sided grin.

“If you say so, babe,” Danny smirked, “So what’s this about the Goddess Pele wanting Sheppard? I assume we’re not referring to the actual Pele, although that wouldn’t be the strangest thing we’ve heard today.”

“I guess these Goa’uld use their advanced technology to pretend to be Gods,” Steve explained, “EJ thinks that one of them has been pretending to be Pele.”

“How is this my life?” Danny asked the ceiling.

“You love it,” Steve grinned.

Kono pushed open the glass door to the squad room, coming over to stand by Steve and Danny and raising an eyebrow at the argument coming from Steve’s office.

“Hey, boss, other boss” Kono greeted them, “What’s going on in there?”

“EJ wants John to go back to their super-secret base,” Danny explained matter-of-factly, “Pele, who isn’t really a Goddess but an old, evil snake, is targeting John because of his fancy gene, but not EJ because she’s scary. And apparently Pele has lots of classified information she shouldn’t have which may or may not have come from a traitor they caught a year ago who’s now catatonic and unavailable for questioning.”

“Huh?” Kono blinked several times in confusion.

“Also,” Danny lifted a finger, “John calls EJ ‘Emmaline’ when he’s pissed. And while that may be an interesting social observation, it is not relevant to the current discussion.”

“What did Max have to say?” Steve asked, changing the subject easily. 

“After he calmed down about the whole classified thing,” Kono rolled her eyes, “He told me he finished autopsying the three bodies he had, the two from the house and one from the warehouse.”

Kono pulled a flashdrive from her pocket and plugged it into the table, sending photos onto the screens in front of them.

“Nothing unusual about the guys from the house. Both received a single forty caliber GSW to the head post-mortem,” Kono gestured to the photos, “The first one had obvious defensive wounds. His right arm was broken in two places, several torn ligaments in his left knee, as well as a shattered kneecap. Cause of death was two stab wounds to the back, the first puncturing his lung, the second directly into his heart. Max said the first stab was clean, in and out. The second stab, the knife was angled up and twisted, destroying the heart muscle.”

“She broke his dominate arm,” Steve spoke thoughtfully, “probably kicked him in the knee to get him down, moving around to keep a visual on the other attackers. First stab to disable him, second stab to ensure he’s dead.”

“Right,” Kono nodded, “Max said the guy would’ve bled out in under two minutes. He also said whoever did it was highly trained and knew where to inflict the maximum amount of damage.”

“Sounds about right,” John drawled as he emerged from the office, EJ scowling at his back as she joined them by the table.

“The second guy?” Steve prompted.

“The second guy has more defensive wounds,” Kono tapped the computer to make the next set of photos come up, “Lacerations on his arms, fractured cheekbone, cracked sternum, two broken ribs on his right side. Cause of death was a single stab wound to the heart. Same upward angle, severing the aorta. The knife was still in his chest when the ME’s office picked him up. It’s in evidence now.”

“Most of the lacerations and the fractured cheekbone are from inside the bedroom,” EJ explained easily, “He got pissed after I elbowed him in the face and kicked me through the window. The cracked sternum and the broken ribs are from a kick to the chest when he thought I was going to stay down. The stab wound is obvious. Anything unusual in his tox screen?”

“Not on these two,” Kono tapped the computer again, sending a final set of photos to the screens, “The one from the warehouse was a little different. No defensive wounds. Cause of death was multiple GSWs, two to the chest, one to the head.”

“That matches up with Sgt. Guttman’s statement,” Steve nodded, “What’s different about this one?”

“Max found a chemical in his blood panel that he’s never seen before,” Kono stated curiously, “He was ‘flummoxed as to its origin’.”

“Can you show me the report?” EJ stepped around the table to get a closer look at the screen.

“Sure,” Kono brought the report up on the monitor in front of EJ.

“Hmmm,” EJ tilted her head to the side as she studied the report.

“You know what that mumbo-jumbo says?” Danny asked skeptically.

“Mostly,” EJ replied absently.

“What is it, Emma?” John questioned.

“I’m not sure. It might be…” EJ trailed off, turning to face Steve, “Do you have a taser handy?”

“Somewhere, why?” Steve asked warily.

“I think it might be nish’ta,” EJ turned back to the screen, “or something similar.”

“What’s nish’ta?” Kono carefully pronounced the word.

“Nish’ta is a biological compound used by some Goa’uld for mind-control,” EJ explained, “It’s usually deployed in a gaseous form, absorbed by the body's tissues. It makes the recipient extremely pliable and open to suggestion, making it easy to brain-wash someone. The SGC has run into nish’ta several times in the past.”

“What’s the taser for then?” Danny wondered.

“The effects of nish’ta can be counteracted with an electrical shock,” EJ turned back around, “The shock kills the organism, freeing the person from its control. Once freed, the person becomes immune to the nish’ta’s effects.”

“You think West is under the influence of this nish’ta stuff?” Steve motioned towards the screen.

“I’m not sure it is nish’ta,” EJ shrugged as she came back around the table to stand by John, “But a hit from a taser won’t do any permanent damage to West and we might get more information from him.”

“You just want to shock the guy,” Danny rolled his eyes.

“That too,” EJ grinned.

“I’d like to talk to him,” John announced.

“No,” EJ put her hands on her hips, “I already agreed to you staying here, against my better judgment, I might add. You’re not going to be in a room with the person responsible for your kidnapping.”

“He’s handcuffed to a chair, Em,” John rolled his eyes, “What could he possibly do to me?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” EJ raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, fine,” John huffed, “I’ll give you that one. But still-”

“I swear to all the local deities,” EJ stepped close to him, giving him hard glare, “if you don’t do as I say, I _will_ knock your stubborn ass out and throw you back through the wormhole myself. Let me do my job and protect you, jackass.”

“You’re mean, Sheppard,” John pouted and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Suck it up, Sheppard,” EJ leaned up to kiss John’s pout, resting her left hand on his chest.

“Aww,” Kono smiled widely, “You two are so cute.”

“Just for that, you don’t get to help me taser the bad guys,” EJ stuck her tongue out at Kono.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if I got the anatomy stuff wrong.


	11. Chapter 11

Steve handed over two tasers to Kono and EJ – turns out no one is immune to the Kalakaua pout - and sent Danny to supervise them while they talked to the suspects in the basement. Chin came back to the squad room shortly after they left with a wide smile. He was mildly disappointed when he found out he didn’t have the ATA gene, but still ended up with a healthy appreciation for alien technology.

Chin filled Steve and John in on what the teams found in the warehouse. There was an interesting mix of Earth-based semi-automatic weapons with Goa’uld [zat’nik’tels](http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Zat) and [pain sticks](http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Pain_Stick). Seeing Steve’s confusion, Chin went on to explain what a zat was and how it was used, adding that he already asked Hailey if Five-O could keep a couple. John laughed at Steve’s resulting pout when he found out they couldn’t keep the zats. A slightly more serious expression came over Chin’s face when he explained the pain sticks. John merely shrugged when Steve suggested they intended to use them on John to get whatever information they wanted from him.

Chin and John started watching the security footage HPD had already brought in from retracing John’s steps while Steve started going over the redacted files on Sharp that had been emailed to the Five-O servers. There were a lot of references to a covert operative in service from 2005 and beyond, about whom almost all information, including the operative’s codename, had been redacted. All references to the operative stopped abruptly towards the end of 2010, with a final 98% blacked out section in the middle of 2013. What little information there was available in the last file seemed to include plans for the operative’s capture and containment, as well as what Steve recognized as assassination plans for several people involved in the Stargate program, including one Colonel John Sheppard. Steve made a mental note to ask about it later, then started searching for any reference in the files about Hawaii.

When Danny, Kono, and EJ returned, Steve was quietly fuming in his office. He was more than a little perturbed to find out a couple military operations he had been involved with had gone sideways because of Sharp.

“Hey, you okay, babe?” Danny came into Steve’s office, letting the door swing shut behind him, “You’re making the ‘someone’s about to get punched repeatedly’ face. Everything all right?”

“Fine,” Steve replied stiffly.

“Steve,” Danny came around to sit on the corner of Steve’s desk, “Talk to me.”

“I’ve been reading the redacted files General Mitchell sent over on Sharp,” Steve gestured to the laptop in front of him, “This guy was selling secrets for over a decade before he was finally caught.”

“That long, huh?” Danny frowned, “He must’ve done a lot of damage.”

“People have been hurt and killed because of this guy,” Steve scowled, “Good people.”

“I’m guessing people you know,” Danny spoke gently, “Otherwise you wouldn’t be quite so upset.”

“You know that’s classified, Danny,” Steve looked up at him.

“Yes, but,” Danny smiled and held up a finger, “It just so happens I have recently been granted top-secret security clearance.”

“Is that so?” Steve leaned back in his chair.

“It is so,” Danny agreed, resting his hands on his legs again, “I have been deemed trustworthy enough to be told about aliens, wormholes, and a plethora of other crazy things. A few puny SEAL operations are nothing to the secrets I now hold in my admittedly handsome head.”

“It’s a very handsome head, Danno,” Steve nodded, holding back his smile.

“Thank you, Steven,” Danny grinned, “Now tell me what’s bothering you before Kono busts in here looking for us.”

“A couple of missions I was involved with,” Steve glared at the laptop again, “the kind that went…badly, it turns out Sharp sold the intel on them to other _interested_ parties.”

“I see,” Danny frowned sadly.

“This guy was selling secrets for years, Danny,” Steve sat forward angrily, “Over a decade. Think about how much damage this single traitor caused.”

“But the important part is,” Danny squeezed Steve’s shoulder lightly, “He’s not anymore. You heard what EJ said, the guy’s catatonic now. He can’t hurt anyone else.”

“Can’t he though?” Steve flicked his glance to the people gathered around the computer table looking at security footage, “I found over half a dozen files indicating Sharp sold information to someone on the islands. Information about the Stargate program and the people involved.”

“That’s actually good news, babe,” Danny insisted, “It means there’s no new leak.”

“I suppose that’s a good point,” Steve shrugged slightly, “Still pisses me off.”

“Lt. Commander Steven J. McGarrett, SuperSEAL extraordinaire, is pissed off,” Danny gaped dramatically, holding both hands up in the air, “What a shocker. Alert the media. Call the Army to revoke his SEAL license. Send in the SWAT team.”

“Shut up, D,” Steve playfully shoved Danny off the corner of his desk, “And it’s the _Navy_.”

“Come on, Rambo,” Danny pulled open the door, “While you were in here getting yourself all worked up, the rest of us have been making actual progress. We might have found something useful.”

“Did you make him stop sulking?” Kono gave Danny a pointed look.

“I was not sulking,” Steve insisted.

“Yes, you were,” Chin stated calmly.

“I fixed him,” Danny smirked, “He’s back to his normal trigger happy self.”

“I’m not trigger happy,” Steve defended.

“Yes, you are,” EJ snorted.

“I do not sulk,” Steve crossed his arms across his chest, “And I am not trigger happy.”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” John grinned.

“I can fire over half the people in this room,” Steve pointed out.

“You could,” Danny agreed, “But you love us too much to actually do it.”

“And I’m pretty sure they’d just ignore you and show up anyway,” EJ smiled at Chin and Kono, who both nodded their agreement.

“Will one of you please tell me what you found?” Steve asked impatiently.

“A couple of the guys we have downstairs were under the effects of nish’ta,” Kono explained.

“The ones who didn’t say anything at all the first time,” EJ clarified, “Not West or the ones that asked for a phone call.”

“Did you get anything out of them?” Steve questioned.

“They were understandably confused at first,” Danny responded easily, “but we got their names after they settled down.”

“I ran the names while Danny was in your office,” Chin slid several photos up to the monitors, “All of them of criminal records, but the really interesting part is they’re all suspected of having ties to the local Yakuza.”

“Unless you’ve been hanging out with the Yakuza,” Steve looked over to John, “I’m not sure how that helps us.”

John and EJ exchanged a quick glance but remained silent.

“Are you kidding me right now?” Danny looked at the two of them, “That wasn’t on the list you gave me of where you’ve been the last two weeks.”

“Technically it was,” John argued, “The address I gave you for last Thursday.”

“You told me that was a restaurant,” Danny accused John with a frown.

“It is a restaurant…” EJ hesitated, “…that happens to have a Yakuza casino in the back.”

“I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you,” Danny spoke calmly, “that gambling is illegal on the island of Oahu.”

“Oh, really?” EJ blinked innocently, “How about that.”  

“What were you doing in a Yakuza casino?” Chin asked curiously, “Besides the obvious.”

“Would you believe me if I said finishing my thesis?” John half-smiled.

“Your thesis?” Kono wondered.

“It was suggested to me,” John flicked his glance to EJ, “that since I was only a thesis away from my doctorate, I should finish it while I was here.”

“What does that have to do with illegal gambling?” Steve inquired.

“My degree is in applied mathematics,” John explained, “I was determining the merits of a particular mathematical equation when applied to a certain set of variables.”

“And in regular English?” Danny prompted with a wave of his hand.

“He was counting cards,” EJ rolled her eyes.

“Nice,” Kono asserted, “Did it work?”

“I won close to a hundred thousand dollars,” John shrugged, “and I turned in my completed thesis Monday morning.”

“How did you even get in the door?” Steve questioned.

“The local underboss that oversees the Yakuza’s gambling interests on the island owed me a favor,” EJ replied, “He was a very gracious host for the evening.”

“Do I want to know why this underboss owed you a favor?” Steve asked warily.

“Probably not,” EJ admitted.

“Okay, putting aside the fact that you have to be a special kind of bat-shit insane to count cards in an illegal, Yakuza-run, back room casino,” Danny shook his head before turning to look up at Steve, “Did you find anything in Sharp’s files that would connect him to the Yakuza on the island?”

“The files were pretty heavily redacted,” Steve frowned, “I’m not sure.”

“Mitchell sent them to the Five-O servers?” EJ wondered.

“Yeah,” Steve nodded.

“You mind, Chin?” EJ motioned to the computer table.

“Go ahead,” Chin agreed.

EJ started tapping on the flat surface, bringing up the redacted files quickly. She typed a series of commands in, pulling up a specific file and clearing the blackened sections. She scrolled through the file quickly, swearing fiercely under her breath in Japanese.

“Emma,” John raised an eyebrow, “Less profanity, more explaining.”

EJ looked up and started speaking in rapid Japanese until John held up a hand to stop her.

“English, _dulcis_ ,” John commanded with an amused shake of his head, “No one else can understand you.”

“Right, sorry,” EJ slid the file onto the monitors, “This is all the information Sharp sold to the Yakuza on the islands. Most of it has to do with a CIA investigation into their activities here, but it also includes some information about mildly classified tech coming out of the SGC, including our sub-Q transmitters.”

“That explains how they knew how to disable it,” John drawled.

“Is that also how they knew about you and John?” Kono wondered.

“Sort of,” EJ pointed towards the screen, “Sharp also gave them a list of key personnel from the SGC and the City. But John was scrubbed shortly after they got this list. Unless they’ve been watching him for the past three years, or they have a hacker that can break military-grade asymmetric encryption created by the most powerful AI known to mankind, they wouldn’t have anything on him.”

“Scrubbed?” Chin inquired.

“Eight months after I became involved in the Stargate program,” EJ explained, “I helped update some of the security protocols, including electronically wiping information on everyone who works for the SGC or Homeworld Security. The only things left are their names, birth certificates, and contact information for Cheyenne Mountain. There aren’t even pictures attached to the files anymore.”

“You said John was scrubbed,” Danny pointed out, “What about you? Could they have found him that way?”

“I never existed in the first place,” EJ shook her head, “Besides, the only thing that connects me to John is our marriage license and that was filed after Sharp was captured.”

“You’re not on this list,” Steve studied the names on the screen.

“At that point, I wasn’t considered ‘key personnel’,” EJ shrugged.

“So how do they know who you are?” Steve looked over to EJ.

“I worked for the government in a different capacity before I came to the Stargate program,” EJ stated evenly, “I’ve encountered the Yakuza previously.”

“What capacity?” Steve narrowed his eyes.

“Do you remember Operation Glass Slipper?” EJ asked calmly.

“I do,” Steve’s expression darkened, “That was you?”

“It was,” EJ straightened.

“So the intel here…?” Steve nodded towards the screen.

“Yup,” EJ agreed.

“Hence the profanity,” John smirked.

“Excuse me,” Danny raised a hand, “What is Operation Glass Slipper?”

“Classified,” Steve and EJ chorused.

“Never mind,” Danny rolled his eyes, “Forget I asked.”

“What I find… _troubling_ ,” EJ turned back to the screen, “is that there’s no mention of the ATA gene in the intel Sharp gave them and none of the tech information was Ancient in origin.”

“Why is that troubling?” Chin wondered.

“Because if they didn’t get that information from Sharp,” John answered, “It means someone actually recognized Ancient writing.”

“And that’s bad,” Kono frowned.

“Yes,” EJ sighed as she looked back to the group, “It confirms that the snake we're dealing with is extremely dangerous. She's either very old and has a sarcophagus, which is highly addicting and induces megalomania, or we have another unidentified leak.”

“Definitely bad,” Danny huffed.

“I’m leaning towards the old-snake theory personally,” EJ said thoughtfully.

“Why’s that?” Chin inquired.

“If there was another, newer leak,” John responded, “They would’ve known how to block the _Cultore_ link.”

“The weird telepathic thing, right,” Danny waved a hand between the two of them.

“I think we should proceed under the assumption that Pele found John through the Yakuza,” EJ looked over to Steve, “Mitchell will still be investigating the possibility of a second leak, so it makes sense for us to pursue other avenues.”

“I agree,” Steve nodded.

“I’ll run the prints and DNA on the rest of the guys downstairs,” Kono offered, “See if the rest of them pop in the system connected to the Yakuza.”

“Chin, finish going through the security footage we’ve already got,” Steve ordered.

“I’ll run pattern recognition and facial rec,” Chin agreed, “try to figure out how they knew where and when to find Colonel Sheppard.”

“What are the chances that this _casino_ you went to,” Danny gestured to John, “had security cameras?”

“We counted at least four,” John remembered, “The problem is getting the actual footage.”

“We have no way of knowing how much of the Yakuza is involved with Pele,” Steve frowned slightly.

“What if we could acquire the footage without them knowing?” EJ asked carefully.

“And how would we do that?” Danny questioned.

EJ smiled widely and Danny shook his head furiously.

“No,” Danny insisted vehemently, “We are _not_ breaking into the illegal casino to steal security tapes from the Yakuza.”

“Actually,” EJ grinned, “I was thinking we walk through the front door.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't flirted with anyone other than my husband for...well...a long time. *Cue the writing of awkward flirting scenes*

“I’d like to go on record one more time,” Danny muttered under his breath, “to say this is a terrible idea and it’s probably going to get us all killed.”

“Relax, Jersey,” EJ spoke quietly around the rim of her champagne glass, “I used to do this kind of thing all the time.”

“Was that meant to reassure me?” Danny questioned wryly.

“I’m not dead yet,” EJ held back a grin, “so yes, that was meant to be reassuring.”

“It didn’t work,” Danny snorted.

“Go sit down and play cards, Danno,” Steve grinned in his direction.

“I’m going,” Danny moved away from the bar, “but not because you told me to, because I wanted to go.”

“Whatever you say, D,” Steve watched him move across the room to an empty spot at a blackjack table, “You like it when I tell you to do stuff.”  

Despite Danny’s protests, Steve thought the plan for getting the security tapes had a high chance of succeeding. He was admittedly impressed at the speed at which EJ managed to come up with a covert op to get the tapes. Her plan took into account each of their strengths and personalities while still leaving room for any contingencies that might come up. When he discovered that EJ was responsible for Operation Glass Slipper, as well as apparently providing the original intel on the island's Yakuza, he comfortably stepped aside and let her take control of the op. 

EJ called the restaurant, an extremely popular sushi place that Steve was surprised to learn even had a back room, much less an illegal casino, making ‘private’ reservations for Steve, Danny, John and herself. While Chin stayed at the office to get all the surveillance equipment ready, everyone else went back to Steve’s house to change for the evening.

EJ and Kono insisted on choosing clothes for the guys, forbidding Danny to wear a tie, much to his vocal displeasure. [Steve wore a simple black suit, white dress shirt with the top buttons undone underneath](http://www.50undercover.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/hawaii-five-0-s1e8-manao-0311-300x224.jpg), and an ankle holster with his back-up gun as his only weapon. [Danny wore his gray suit with a pale blue shirt](http://www.50undercover.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/hawaii-five-0-s1e8-manao-0311-300x224.jpg) that EJ swore brought out the blue in his eyes, also with an ankle holster strapped to his leg. John was allowed to wear a pair of fitted jeans with a [crisp white dress shirt, a black pinstriped suit jacket](http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp118/Popkin16/JoeFlanigan_074_large.jpg), and at least two different knives that Steve saw in addition to the holster on his ankle.

After they picked out clothes for the guys, Kono and EJ disappeared for over an hour. When they returned, EJ wore a [simple, tight, red dress ending at mid-thigh with a thin halter strap ](http://www.wholesale7.net/images/201204/goods_img/25603_P_1333348196994.jpg)holding it up around her neck. She had on an [incredibly high pair of dark gray heels covered in small, glittering crystals](http://us.jimmychoo.com/en/women/shoes/view-all-shoes/kendall/anthracite-leather-platform-pumps-with-crystals-123kendallmly.html?prefn1=color&start=22&cgid=women-shoes-viewallshoes&dwvar_123kendallmly_size=40&dwvar_123kendallmly_color=Anthracite&prefv1=Metallic) and a [matching rectangle purse](http://us.jimmychoo.com/en/women/accessories/wallets-and-purses/nikita/anthracite-lam%C3%A9-glitter-wallet-132nk1lag210.html) tucked under her arm. There were over a dozen bracelets of different sizes covering most of her left forearm, the sparkling crystals matching her shoes and purse. Her [long blonde hair was swept sleekly to the side, over her right shoulder, and long darkened lashes and nude glossy lips ](http://www.foxgown.com/uploads/product/2012/8/strapless-red-satin-short-homecoming-dress.jpg)emphasized the odd violet color of her eyes.

They all drove to the Hilton, since EJ didn’t want to take the chance that someone would find out where she and John were staying. Steve watched with an amused smirk as EJ palmed a key card off a couple tourists, handing it off to John. He convinced the young clerk at the desk with a charming smile and a quick wink that his key wasn't working, giving her a random room number so she could fix it. Chin met them at the door to the room, fitting the four of them with tiny cameras carefully hidden in their clothing and nearly invisible earpieces to keep in contact. Chin and Kono headed to the alley behind the restaurant, the two of them in the surveillance van as backup in case anything went wrong.

A short black limo picked them up at the entrance of the Hilton, driving them the short distance downtown to the upscale restaurant. The manager came to greet EJ personally when they arrived, calling her Lily and brushing a kiss across her cheek as they had a friendly conversation in Japanese. EJ introduced Danny as her cousin from Jersey, who she just found out had moved here, and Steve as John’s old friend from school. The man was initially reluctant to let Steve and Danny into the back room, stating that he knew they were both members of law enforcement. EJ assured him that Steve and Danny were off-duty and only there to enjoy themselves. Steve noted the large wad of cash EJ quietly slipped into the man’s suit pocket before he finally agreed, leading them through a door marked ‘employees only’.

There was a long corridor between the restaurant and what Steve assumed was the building behind it before the manager opened another door, ushering the four of them into a brightly lit room. There were several card tables, various card games already in progress, a couple roulette wheels, and two craps tables. One wall of the room was almost covered by a rich mahogany bar, fully stocked and manned by four neatly dressed bartenders.

John ordered EJ to get him a beer, slapping her on the ass obnoxiously before he made his way to one of the Texas Hold ‘em tables to lay down a large stack of cash. EJ brought him his beer, trying to get his attention while he played cards. After forty-five minutes and several more beers, with John alternately ignoring her and blaming her for distracting him when he lost, EJ gave up trying. EJ pouted dramatically as she left, flouncing away to join Steve by the bar. The two of them had been standing here for almost an hour now, flirting more and more overtly as the time passed. Danny drifted between the games and the bar, never spending too much time in one spot and always keeping the door that led to a set of offices housing the security system in sight.

“Steve, darling,” EJ ran a hand slowly down his arm as she leaned in and whispered in his ear, “If you keep looking at Danny like that, no one’s going to believe John has a reason to be jealous.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Steve smiled as EJ pulled back. He angled his body closer to her, away from Danny. 

“ _Sure you don’t_ ,” Kono snorted over the earpiece.

“You were staring at his ass,” EJ blushed as Steve leaned closer, putting a gentle hand on her hip, “Again.”

“I was not,” Steve leaned down to whisper in EJ’s ear.

“ _Everyone sees it but you, brah_ ,” Chin agreed.

“The entire island is waiting for you to get your act together,” EJ giggled, ducking her head to look up at Steve from under her lashes, “And make your move already.”

“ _If you man up and kiss him in the next week_ ,” Kono’s amusement was clear, “ _I win the HPD betting pool. I’ll split the money with you, 70-30_.”

“ _I already lost_ ,” Chin complained, “ _I had last month_.”

“I hate you all,” Danny mumbled, “so much.”  

“Can we please be serious here?” Steve asked, using his grip on EJ’s hip to pull her even closer.

“ _We are serious_ , _bossman_ ,” Kono insisted, “ _Serious about the unresolved sexual tension between you and Danny_.”

“Guards changing,” Danny turned slightly to one side, making sure to get a clear view of the door as the large man standing to one side traded places with another larger man.

“John,” EJ’s voice turned serious without changing her flirty body language, “Lose that hand, badly. Start getting upset.”

John hummed in agreement.

“Chin, did you get the code on the panel when Tweedle Dee opened the door?” EJ continued.

“ _Six, eight, five, three, seven, four_ ,” Chin responded evenly.

“Good,” EJ trailed her hand up Steve’s chest, moving it around his neck to play with the hair at the base of his neck, “That’s Plan B if Tweedle Dum doesn’t let us in.”

“Showtime,” Steve leaned over to EJ, stopping only a couple inches away from her mouth.

“Time to make a scene, _carissime_ ,” EJ mumbled quietly, smiling softly at Steve.

“What the fuck are you doing?” John’s hand wrapped around EJ’s wrist, yanking her away from Steve.

“I was getting to know your friend Steve a little better,” EJ struggled in John’s grip, trying to pull herself free.

“Is that what you’re calling it?” John sneered at her, voice raising as he spoke, “It looked an awful lot like you were flirting.”

“Of course not, darling,” EJ shook her head, “I was only-”

“Don’t _darling_ me, Lily,” John forced EJ a step back, “I turn my back for five minutes and you’re already halfway to fucking some other guy.”

“John, please lower your voice,” EJ looked around the room to see almost everyone looking at them, “People are starting to stare.”

“Oh, now it matters that the whole room can see you,” John took another step forward, pressing EJ up against the bar with the hold on her wrist, “Not when you were blatantly disrespecting me by panting all over another man.”

“We were only talking, brah,” Steve raised his hands and moved away, “You know I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“ _You_ wouldn’t,” John looked at Steve for only a second before turning back to EJ, “but Lily here was ready to drop down to her knees for you, right here at the bar.”

“I wouldn’t…I didn’t mean to…” EJ spoke uncertainly, “John, I-”

“It’s like you _want_ me to punish you,” John released his grip on EJ’s wrist, only to grab her behind the neck possessively, “Is that why you do stupid shit like this?”

“No, I-” EJ licked her lips nervously.

“No, _what_?” John growled.

“No, sir,” EJ dropped her eyes down, looking at the center of John’s chest.

“I should take you across my knee right here,” John threatened, “Really give everyone something to watch. Is that what you want?”

“No, sir,” EJ answered meekly.

“You don’t think that you should be punished for disrespecting me?” John questioned angrily.

“Sir, I-” EJ started.

“Is there a problem, Mr. Samuels?” a slim Asian man in a dark suit came over.

“Go away,” John ordered, not bothering to look away from EJ.

“Mrs. Samuels?” the man inquired.

“Answer the man,” John dropped his hand from EJ, stepping back, “ _Mrs. Samuels_.”

“Everything is fine, Shiro,” EJ smiled politely at the man.

“If you’re sure, Lily,” Shiro looked between her and John.

“She said everything was fine,” John sneered at him.

“Actually, Shiro,” EJ looked back to John, “I was wondering if my husband and I could borrow one of your rooms in the back. I’d like to apologize to John for my behavior this evening… _privately_.”

“Of course, Mrs. Samuels,” Shiro inclined his head, “I am happy to accommodate any needs you have while you and your husband are our guests.”

“One of the rooms _without_ a camera,” John gripped EJ’s waist, pulling her tight against him, “I think I’ve shared her enough tonight.”

“Right this way, sir,” Shiro motioned behind him.

“We’ll be back,” John told Steve over his shoulder, EJ being pulled along beside him as he moved towards the door, “You’re welcome to take my place at the table.”

“I’m not much for games,” Steve shrugged, “Thanks.”

Steve watched as John and EJ were led past the large guard and the locked door. Danny came to join him by the bar, whistling lowly under his breath as the patrons who had been watching started turning back to their games.

“Way to get the girl in trouble, Steven,” Danny moved EJ’s forgotten champagne glass so he could lean against the bar, speaking loud enough that the few who were still watching could hear. 

“You thought they called me Smooth Dog for nothing?” Steve grinned at Danny.

“Neanderthal,” Danny swore fondly.

“ _We’re in_ ,” EJ’s voice came over the earpiece.  

“ _Copying the hard drive now_ ,” John informed them, “ _Five minutes_.”

“ _Is there any chance you’re going to let us keep that nifty little piece of tech when this is done_?” Chin inquired.

“ _I’ll have to ask Hailey_ ,” EJ laughed, “ _She invented it. I think it’s still one of a kind at this point_.”

“ _I already asked her about keeping zats_ , _but she said no_ ,” Chin admitted, “ _Those would really come in handy_.”

“ _How did you know your plan would work_?” Kono asked curiously.

“ _It’s all about knowing your target,_ ” EJ explained easily, “ _These guys are mostly old school Yakuza. They’re big on respect in all forms_. _Me flirting with another man, while my husband is in the room no less, was purposely insolent_. _If John had reacted in any other manner,_ _they would’ve become suspicious_.”

“So,” Danny stole Steve’s drink to hide the movement of his mouth as he spoke, “They just let you into the back of the illegal casino to what…talk out your problems?”

“ _Not exactly_ ,” John chuckled.

“I don’t think they expect much _talking_ to be going on, D,” Steve smirked, “It’s meant to be more of a _physical_ apology.”

“Oh, there’s another image I do not need in my head,” Danny lamented, “I’d better not hear any sex noises while you two are back there.”

“ _I know how to be quiet when necessary_ ,” EJ assured him.

“ _Unless…_ ” John drawled, voice dipping to a deeper register as he whispered something in the strange Latin, making EJ’s breath catch audibly over their comms.

“Stop,” Danny insisted, “Whatever you’re doing back there, stop right now.”

“I’m _not doing anything_ ,” EJ insisted, her last word ending in a quickly smothered whimper.

“Seriously?” Danny looked up at Steve, “I’m not listening. I am _not_ listening.”

“Why don’t you just stick your fingers in your ears?” Steve laughed, “Make la-la-la noises.”

“Real mature, Steven,” Danny glared up at him.

“I could distract you,” Steve slid closer, “Would that help, Danno?”

“It depends,” Danny smirked, “What kind of distracting did you have in mind?”

“The best kind,” Steve flicked his eyes down to Danny’s mouth then back up to his blue eyes.

“That’s not very specific,” Danny tilted his head up to meet Steve’s eyes, “Maybe you should elaborate.”

“I’d be happy to,” Steve smiled widely, leaning down towards Danny.

“ _How about you elaborate when you get home_?” John's amused drawl came over the radio, startling Steve and Danny, who had obviously lost track of the time.

“ _We’re on our way out_ ,” EJ informed them.

“ _Bad timing_ ,” Chin chuckled.

“ _You guys couldn’t have waited another minute_?” Kono complained, “ _I was totally about to win the pool_.”

“I changed my mind,” Danny shook his head, “You can fire Chin and Kono any time you want, babe.”

“I’m definitely considering it,” Steve looked over to where John and EJ were emerging from the heavy door.  

EJ’s hair was mussed and she was sporting a dark purple hickey at the base of the exposed side of her neck. John had a satisfied grin on his face, straightening his shirt and jacket as he and EJ joined Steve and Danny at the bar.

At Danny’s pointed stare at the mark on her neck, EJ grinned and slipped her hand into John’s, leaning against him as she spoke quietly, “We had to make it believable.”

“I’m sure,” Danny snorted.

“No sex on the job,” John assured him, “Scout’s honor.”

“If you were ever a boy scout,” Danny pointed a finger at him, “I’ll eat nothing but pineapple for a week.”

“ _They weren’t doing anything that exciting_ ,” Kono insisted with an amused snort, “ _Remember, we got it all on tape_.”

“Told you,” John smirked as EJ blushed a pale pink.

“Let’s get out of here,” Steve laughed and put hand on Danny’s shoulder, steering him towards the door.


	13. Chapter 13

Steve stepped out of the shower the next morning to hear loud voices and infectious laughter drifting up the stairs. He dressed swiftly in a pair of [black cargoes and a forest green polo](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/02/09/article-0-11A24C6F000005DC-249_306x700.jpg), then followed the noise downstairs and out the back door. He found his team, plus John and EJ, sitting around a large, circular table that he wasn’t sure he had seen before today. They were all eating from large white boxes and Steve grinned when the smell of [Loco Moco](http://andreasrecipes.com/photos/RainbowDriveIn_locomoco_plate_slush.jpg) hit his nose. He dropped down into the empty chair between Danny and Chin, accepting the unopened box and fork when Chin pushed them towards him.

Steve let the voices around the table wash over him, observing everyone silently as he ate. Danny wore a [black pair of dress slacks with yet another dress shirt, this one with blue and gray pinstripes](http://kapionews.kapiolani.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/101866_mD0380b.jpg), sleeves rolled up to expose strong forearms. EJ was wearing a [black tank top with an iridescent butterfly ](http://d2rujqvl3m4118.cloudfront.net/custom-butterfly-tank-in-sequins-butterfly-shirt.jpg)on the front, partially covered by a[ short-sleeved, hot pink shirt, buttons undone completely](http://resources.shopstyle.com/sim/1a/f0/1af041c59e985ef3b7fd4c4a4abf1611/craghoppers-kiwi-shirt-upf-40-short-sleeve-for-women.jpg), and a pair of fitted jeans, her [hair in two long braids over her shoulders](http://glambistro.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/fishtail-pigtails.jpg). Danny and EJ were having an intense argument, which involved a lot of hand-waving on Danny’s part and at least three different languages on EJ’s part, on which Disney princess was the best.

John was sitting next to EJ, wearing a [black, linen button up shirt, sleeves pushed up past the elbows and well-worn pair of jeans](http://www.gateworld.net/gallery/albums/conventions/vancouver2009/normal_creationvan09_0339.JPG). He had one arm draped across the back of EJ’s chair, smiling widely as he and Kono talked about surfing. Kono was still wearing her brightly patterned bikini, straps peeking out from under a [loose maroon tank, paired with a pair of gray jeans](http://img.poptower.com/pic-74595/hawaii-five-0.jpg?d=600), her wet hair up in a simple ponytail.

Chin was wearing one of the [hideously patterned Hawaiian shirts he liked, beaches and trees today](http://img.poptower.com/pic-74597/daniel-dae-kim.jpg?d=600), and a simple pair of jeans, occasionally looking up from the paper he was reading to answer questions directed towards him.

Steve finished most of the food in the large box, then looked over to Chin thoughtfully, the only person besides himself not currently embroiled in a semi-serious discussion.

“Whose table is this?” Steve asked curiously, “I don’t remember seeing it before.”

“Yours,” Chin answered carefully, “Some guys delivered it while you were swimming. Didn’t you see it on your way in?”

“Maybe?” Steve frowned slightly.

“They said you ordered it yesterday,” Chin smiled patiently, “and wanted it delivered before seven-thirty this morning.”

“I didn’t…” Steve trailed off and looked over at Danny, catching a hand as it came dangerously close to hitting him in the face, “Did I order a table yesterday, D?”

“How would I know if you ordered a table, Steven?” Danny rolled his eyes, not moving his hand out from under Steve’s where he rested it on the table.  

“Because you keep track of these things,” Steve stated, his tone making it clear that he thought that fact should be obvious.

“First of all, I’m your partner, not your wife,” Danny shook his head with a fond smile, “Second, I would assume that yes, you did order a table yesterday, and matching chairs apparently, since several large men, who I’m pretty sure are related to Kamekona, delivered a table and chairs to your residence at the god-awful hour of seven in the morning. Don’t you pay attention to these kinds of things?”

“I pay plenty of attention,” Steve insisted with a pout.

Danny only responded with a dry look.  

“I do,” Steve repeated, “You and EJ are taking about Disney princesses. By the way, EJ, Elsa is a queen, not a princess and therefore doesn’t count, so Danny, Rapunzel, and her frying pan win by default. Kono and John are talking about the best surfing spots they’ve ever been. Kono, John has a point. He’s been surfing on alien planets, I’m pretty sure that beats the North Shore any day. Chin, you should really stop reading the editorials; that paper only prints ones about people complaining, and it always makes you annoyed for at least an hour.”

“Wow, bossman,” Kono grinned, “That was awesome.”

“And yet,” Danny snorted, “You still can’t remember whether or not you ordered an outdoor table from Shamu’s cousins without my help.”

Steve looked over when he heard EJ’s smothered giggle and saw John poke her in the ribs, eyebrow raised expectantly.

“Something you want to tell him, Emma?” John asked calmly.  

“What?” Steve asked warily.

“You didn’t order the table, Steve,” EJ bit her cheek to keep from laughing, “But I’m very impressed with your observational skills.”

“If he didn’t order it,” Chin wondered, “who did?”

“I may or may not have bought the table and chairs for you,” EJ ducked her head, looking down shyly as she spoke, “as a thank you for letting John and I stay here. And for all the help you’ve given us on this case. I thought after we leave, you could use it when your _ohana_ comes over.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Steve insisted quietly, “It’s not a big deal.”

“It was either this or a rocket launcher,” EJ shrugged, blushing slightly as she looked back up at Steve, “I figured you’d get more use out of the table.”

“You told me it’s because you didn’t want to get yelled at by Danny,” John drawled lazily.

“ _John_ ,” EJ gave him a scandalized look.

“What?” John asked innocently, “Was I not supposed to tell them that?”

“Jackass,” EJ stuck her tongue out at him.

“It worries me,” Danny pointed a finger at EJ, “that you think a rocket launcher is an appropriate gift for _any_ occasion.”

“You never know when you’re going to need a good rocket launcher,” Kono said, her face a mask of seriousness.

“I can think of at least three separate times,” Steve kept the growing smile off his face, “this year alone, that we could’ve used a rocket launcher.”

“Steve,” Danny warned.

“I can always return the table,” EJ offered with a grin, “I know a guy that can get all kinds of heavy weaponry, if that’s what you want.”

“No,” Danny finally pulled his hand out from under Steve’s, shaking an angry finger at EJ, “Absolutely not. We do not need any _heavy weaponry_.”

“But Danno,” Steve whined.

“Don’t you pout at me, Steven McGarrett,” Danny commanded, turning to point the finger-of-doom at him, “You are a fully grown adult.”

“If I’m a fully grown adult,” Steve smirked, “then I should be able to get a rocket launcher if I want to.”

“That’s not-” Danny started, face reddening, “You are a police officer now, Commander. There are exactly _no_ circumstances in which you would need a rocket launcher for any aspect of your job.”

“I think we better head into work now,” Chin stood, starting to clear off the table.

“But I wanted to see the vein in Danny’s forehead do that popping thing,” Kono protested as she stood.  

“Come on, cuz,” Chin headed inside the house, a pouting Kono right behind him.

“We’re taking your truck,” Danny glared at Steve as he stood, “So the four of us can all fit in one vehicle without anyone being folded in half.”

“Shotgun,” John stood, clearing more of the boxes from the table.

“Wait a minute,” EJ hopped up, putting her hands on her hips as she pouted up at John, “You can’t leave me in the backseat with Jersey while he’s pissed.”

“That’s what you get for provoking him,” John smirked, leaning down to give EJ a quick kiss before going inside, Danny following with the last armful of garbage from the table.

“Hey, EJ,” Steve tapped EJ on the arm to stop her as she was walking by, “ _Mahalo_. For the table.”

“ _A`ole pilikia_ , Steve. No big deal,” EJ shrugged awkwardly, “We’d better go before Danny comes back out here looking for us.”

“Pfft,” Steve scoffed, “I can handle Danno.”

“I’m sure you can,” EJ smiled wryly, “And I’m sure you’d both enjoy you handling him.”

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Steve rolled his eyes.

“I can’t help it,” EJ laughed, looking over her shoulder as she got to the doorway, “You two make such a cute couple.”

“We’re not a couple,” Steve crossed his arms across his chest and gave her his best glare, which didn't have nearly the effect he hoped for.

“Could’ve fooled me,” EJ smirked as she went in the house.

 

_*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*_

 

The six of them made it to the Five-O offices a short time later and everyone split off to get to work. Chin and EJ started going through the footage from the casino while John and Kono went to see Charlie to get the forensic results from the day before. Steve took Danny downstairs to try questioning the suspects again, hoping they would be more willing to talk since they’d been stewing for over twenty-four hours.

A couple hours later, Steve was forced to conclude that either the men they had in custody didn’t know anything further or they were too well trained to give anything away. When he and Danny came back into the squad room, Chin was still standing at the computer table, going over a tablet Kono held while he ran at least eight separate functions on the screens hanging from the wall. John was sitting at the conference table, file folders and papers spread out over the surface, feet up on the chair in front of him as he creased a sheet of paper into the shape of an airplane. EJ was sitting cross legged in the middle of the floor in front of the weapons cabinet, a dozen tablets spread out in a half-circle in front of her, mumbling to herself in another language Steve didn’t recognize.

“What’s she doing?” Danny asked cautiously, looking down at EJ.

“Going through the security footage from the casino,” John finished his airplane, sending it in EJ’s direction. She batted it away without looking, saying something to John that made him snort.

“Why’s she on the floor?” Danny wondered curiously, “And what’s with the mumbling?”

“Emma likes to spread out when she works,” John explained, “and she’s reciting the owner’s manual for a Glock 22…in Romanian.”

“Right,” Danny rolled his eyes, “Of course, how silly of me. I should have known.”

“Have you guys made any progress?” Steve asked.

“I’m running facial rec on these four guys at the moment,” Chin motioned towards the screens, “They’re the ones EJ’s deemed ‘interested’ so far. I’m also running searches on the guys from downstairs to see if we can find any commonalties between them.”

“I was just going over the forensic report with Chin,” Kono handed over the tablet to Steve, “CSU didn’t find any foreign fingerprints, hairs, or fibers in the house. The security system’s power was disabled from the junction box outside, both the primary and the back-up. All the blood in the house came back to the bodies we already have or EJ. The only signs of forced entry were on the front door. Techs found metal shavings from whatever they used to pick the lock.”

“So these guys are obviously professionals,” Danny nodded.

“And well trained, disciplined,” John added, “Em and I are extremely light sleepers. They made it into the bedroom and managed to stick me with a needle before either of us noticed.”

“Kono,” EJ held up one of her tablets.

“Got it,” Kono took the tablet, sending the image frozen on the screen to the computer table. Chin tapped the table, adding the picture to the facial recs he was already running.  

“Did we find out what drugs they gave you?” Steve looked over to John.

“A dose of ketamine in the house,” John picked through the papers on the table in front of him, handing a sheet to Steve, “Calculated to our body weight exactly. They drugged me first. Emma got a little less than half the dose that was meant for her, which is why she was able to remain conscious long enough to fight back.”

“What about in the warehouse?” Steve looked over the chemical terms on the paper.

John picked up another paper and handed it to Steve, “It doesn’t actually have a pronounceable name yet, but it’s basically a Goa’uld version of sodium pentothal, only a lot stronger. That combined with the memory device they stuck on me, means they wanted me alive long enough to question me. Yay.”

“What about the warehouse?” Danny asked, “We get anything useful from there?”

“Charlie says they got too much from there,” Kono replied, “He’s still processing everything. He’s managed to get halfway through running the fingerprints already, but the ones he’s identified so far all belong to the guys in lock-up. Did you guys get anything new from them?”

“No,” Steve scowled, “Either they really don’t know anything or they’re too loyal to talk.”

“So we have a whole lot of nothing so far,” Danny concluded.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Chin smiled as the computer pinged, sending an image up to the center screen on the wall, “I just got a hit on one of the searches. Looks like every one of the suspects we’re holding has been to this house at least once in the last month.”

“Who owns it?” EJ stood from the floor, joining them behind the computer.

“The property is owned by _Lono-makua_ Inc,” Chin brought up the information.

“I’ve seen that name recently,” EJ tilted her head to the side, “John, do you have the…”

“Here,” John handed EJ a slim tablet, “Background on West.”

“Thanks, _carissime_ ,” EJ started scrolling through the information, “Here it is. West’s home address, his car, his paycheck…all courtesy of _Lono-makua_ Inc.”

“I think we should check this place out, boss,” Kono suggested.

“Me too,” Steve decided, looking over to EJ, “You want your guys there or should I call SWAT?”

“Is your SWAT team any good?” EJ questioned.

“They are,” Steve nodded.

“Call them then,” EJ commanded easily, “I’ll have my containment team start transporting the guys downstairs, Mitchell will want to have someone else question them back at the Mountain.”

“I’ll let HPD know,” Steve agreed.

EJ turned to give John an assessing look, “If I asked you to stay here with Chin and Kono, would you actually do it?”

“Nope,” John answered with a grin, “You might need me.”

“You’re not going in the house,” EJ put her hands on her hips, “You’ll stay back, under the supervision of no less than two SWAT officers.”

“Yes, dear,” John rolled his eyes.

“Don’t think I won’t cuff you to a telephone pole,” EJ pointed a finger at him.

“Kinky,” Kono grinned at them.

“Can we please just go raid this house?” Danny sighed heavily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to make any comments about Steve knowing Disney movies. Nope, not at all. He watches them with Grace when Danny brings her over. Don't judge.


	14. Chapter 14

“Whatcha got for me today, McGarrett?” Grover asked as he stepped out of the front of the SWAT van, “Something good, I hope.”

“How do you feel about international terrorists,” Steve grinned, “who have possible ties to the Yakuza and are wanted for questioning in relation to the kidnapping of a high value military asset?”

“You serious?” Grover raised both eyebrows.

“Unfortunately,” Danny pulled the straps on his vest tight, “He’s being completely serious at the moment.”

“This why you had my guys out at Dillingham a couple nights ago?” Grover questioned.

“They were transporting some extremely dangerous suspects back to lock up,” Steve nodded.

“Oh lord,” Grover rolled his eyes, “This might be the time you actually get me shot.”

“You should feel lucky,” Danny snorted, “He got me shot on the first day.”

“Get your guys ready,” Steve commanded, “We’re just waiting on…”

“Me,” EJ came up to join them, John, Chin, and Kono behind her.

“Did you finish the thing with the thing?” Danny waved a hand in her general direction.

“Yup,” EJ held up what they now knew was a [portable life-signs detector](http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111031083607/stargate/images/6/69/Life_signs_02.jpg).

“Anything wonky we need to be worried about?” Danny asked carefully.

“Not that I could see,” EJ shrugged, then turned to Grover, “I need borrow two of your officers.”

“Why?” Grover raised an eyebrow, “And who are you?”

“I’m Special Agent EJ Sheppard, DHS,” EJ tapped the badge clipped to her belt, “I assume you're Captain Grover.”

“She’s temporarily in charge of Five-O,” Steve explained, “until the completion of this case.”

“Hmmmm,” Grover looked her over, “How old are you?”

John laughed and EJ turned around to glare at him.

“It’s the pigtails,” Danny didn’t bother to hide his smile, “Makes you look younger.”

“I’ve worked for the US government for the past fifteen years,” EJ looked up at Grover, “I scored a perfect hundred on my last pistol qualification and I can accurately hit any target up to two thousand yards with a rifle. I command, on average, three SRE missions a week in hostile enemy territory. I can also kill you twenty-three different ways using only a pen.”

“Are they related?” Grover asked Danny, hooking his thumb towards Steve and EJ.

“Not that I know of,” Danny replied wryly, “And she came this way. Steve didn’t have to corrupt this one.”

“I’m definitely getting shot today,” Grover sighed and waved two of the fully geared SWAT officers over, “Guys, this is Special Agent Sheppard. Apparently, she needs to _borrow_ you.”

“Gentleman,” EJ grabbed a hold of John’s arm, pulling him forward, “This is Colonel John Sheppard. He was kidnapped two days ago by some very bad men. I need you to keep an eye on him, make sure he stays out of trouble.”

“You make me sound like a child, Em,” John rolled his eyes, “It’s not like I’m going to wander off.”

“You two are responsible for him until further notice,” EJ ignored John’s statement, “Anything happens to him and you won’t even be able to get a job as a security guard in a department store. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” both men nodded.

“And you,” EJ released John’s wrist and glared up at him, “Behave yourself or I’ll shave all that ridiculous hair off while you’re asleep.”

“You wouldn’t,” John ran a protective hand over his wild hair.

“You really want to take chance?” EJ raised an eyebrow at him.

“No,” John shoved his hands in his pockets.

“If you’re a good boy, you can have a treat later,” EJ smiled up at him.

“Promises, promises,” John leaned down to press a kiss against her cheek, “I’ll just be over there…twiddling my thumbs and looking pretty.”

“Don’t let him fool you, gentleman,” EJ called after the officers following John to another SWAT truck further down the street, “He’s sneakier than he looks.”

“Is that the high-value military asset you were talking about?” Grover asked, looking back to Steve.

“Yeah,” Steve nodded.

“What does he do that makes him so valuable?” Grover wondered curiously.

“Unless you like to hear the word ‘classified’,” Danny responded, “I’ve found it’s better not to ask too many questions.”

“All right,” Grover agreed warily, “What are we looking at inside?”

“There are eight life-signs inside,” EJ handed the LSD to Steve so he could look, “We’re operating under the assumption that they’re extremely well-armed and dangerous.”

“What kind of weapons are we looking at?” Grover asked seriously.

“We encountered military-grade hardware at the airfield,” Steve answered, “M4A1s, couple of MP5s.”

“CSU didn’t find any grenades or other explosives,” Kono added.

“It’s possible they also have access to some highly classified technology as well,” EJ continued, “but I have no way of finding out for sure until we get inside the house.”

“The people we’re dealing with are in no way afraid of law enforcement,” Steve informed him, “They will not hesitate to kill your men.”

“I see,” Grover frowned slightly.

“That being said,” EJ continued, “I need as many of them alive as possible. I’m almost positive the person behind all this isn’t inside. I’m hoping one of these guys can lead me to her.”

“I understand,” Grover nodded, “But I’m not taking any chances with my guys.”

“Of course, Captain,” EJ agreed.

“Anything else I need to know before we go in?” Grover asked.

“Please tell your men not to touch anything they don’t immediately recognize,” EJ ordered easily, “unless it’s a life or death situation. If there is classified tech inside, I don’t want any of your men getting hurt if it’s at all avoidable.”

“I’ll let them know,” Grover moved over to where his men were waiting.

“I’m so jealous,” Kono declared once Grover was out of hearing range.  

“Of what?” Chin asked curiously.

“The LSD works for Steve _and_ Danny,” Kono gestured to the device Danny was handing back to EJ, “Nothing happened when I tried it.”

“It didn’t work for me either,” Chin pointed out.

“They both have the gene,” EJ shrugged, “Steve’s about a three on a scale of one to ten. Danny’s about a six. If I thought any of you would actually agree, I’d offer your whole team jobs in the City. You’re all pretty rooted here, so I didn’t think I should bother asking.”

“Just because we have this freaky gene?” Danny wondered.

“Because you’re all incredibly talented people,” EJ clarified, “with a wide variety of complementary skill sets. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t recruit solely based on genetics, although that is a contributing factor. Even if I did, I don’t have final say in who’s brought into the program. The SGC only takes the best and the brightest.”

“You think that’s us?” Chin made a gesture encompassing the entire Five-O team.

“I do. And I’m a very good judge of character, which is why they take my recommendations for recruits,” EJ smiled, then headed towards Steve’s truck, “I’m going to get my gear.”

“She’s right you know,” Steve looked around at his team, “You guys are the best and brightest.”

“Back at ya, bossman,” Kono smiled brilliantly.

“Was that an actual compliment?” Danny held a hand to Steve’s forehead, “Are you sick?”

“Did I say ‘you guys’?” Steve smirked, “I meant Chin and Kono. They’re the best and brightest.”

“You know you’d be lost without me,” Danny grinned, “Who would do your homework for you, make sure you don’t use inappropriate words in official reports?”  

“Does that mean you’re going to fix that report for me?” Steve asked hopefully, “It’s still sitting on my desk.”

“Are you talking about the drug case we finished two days ago?” Chin questioned.

“I finished the report,” Steve protested, “but Danny objected to some of the phrasing I used and told me I had to do it again.”

“Let me guess,” Chin looked over to Danny, “Something along the lines of ‘the suspect totally deserved getting punched in the face because he was an asshole’.”

“Close,” Danny smirked, “It was ‘low-life, scum-sucking drug dealer’.”

“Boss,” Kono admonished, “Even I know that’s not something your write in an official report.”

“See?” Danny gestured to Kono, “Even the rookie knows that’s bad, Steven.”

“What did the Commander do this time?” EJ came back to join them. She had removed the bright pink shirt she was wearing, replacing it with her bulletproof vest, leaving her arms completely bare. Her P90 was hanging loosely from a long strap around her body, a black Glock strapped to her left thigh, and a [flat holster with three silver throwing knives ](http://www.knifekits.com/vcom/images/bullseye_1_600.jpg)on the right.

“He didn’t finish his homework for the Governor,” Danny replied easily.

“It’s okay, Jersey,” EJ grinned, “Mine’s allergic to paperwork too.”

“He’s not mi-” Danny started.

“Yes, he is,” EJ interrupted, “Come on, let’s go round-up some bad guys.”

“You’re not always right, Blondie,” Danny followed EJ and Steve, Chin and Kono behind them, over to where Grover was waiting with his officers.

“Not one hundred percent of the time, no,” EJ agreed, “But I’m quite positive I’m right about this.”

“Right about what?” Grover inquired warily.

“The fact that these two,” EJ gestured to Steve and Danny, “are madly in love with one another and should be screwing each other’s brains out.”

“ _EJ_!” Steve’s face reddened.

“Oh, is that all?” Grover looked amused, “I have next month in the pool. I’m hoping they can hold out until then.”

“Nah, man,” Kono shook her head, “They’ll never make it that long.”

“You only say that because you have this week,” Chin nudged her.

“We’re ready whenever you are, Captain,” EJ grinned.

“Let’s do this thing,” Grover agreed and all of them began checking their weapons.

“Chin, Kono, cover the back with Lou,” Steve ordered, “Danny, EJ, you’re with me in the front. No one gets away.”

“We need them alive,” EJ reminded everyone, “if at all possi-”

EJ stopped abruptly, her head snapping around to where John was now slumped against the nearby SWAT truck. He was looking in Steve’s direction, but his eyes were unfocused and his expression was vacant. Steve followed EJ over, standing off to the side when she stepped close to him.

“John?” EJ placed her left hand gently on his cheek, “Come back.”

John blinked rapidly, finally focusing on EJ’s face after a minute.

“I’m fine, _dulcis_ ,” John spoke unevenly.

“Can you show me?” EJ asked softly, dropping her hand from his face to take his left hand.

“It’s bad,” John informed her, both of them closing their eyes.

EJ cursed under her breath in German as they opened their eyes again.

“If it comes down to a choice, _carissime_ ,” EJ started, flicking her glance to Steve.

“I know, Emma,” John nodded, “Be careful.”

“Always,” EJ dropped his hand and leaned up for a soft kiss before starting back towards the waiting group.

“What was that about?” Steve asked quietly.

“Nothing to worry about, Commander,” EJ assured him, “Let’s go.”

SWAT and Five-O moved swiftly and silently into positions around the large house, lining up at both doors. The man at the front door readied the hand-held, metal battering ram.

“ _Five, four, three, two, one,_ ” Grover spoke quietly over the radio, “ _Breach_.”

The man swung the battering ram hard into the door, shattering the lock and moving out of the way. The SWAT team burst through the now open door, swiftly fanning out in the house. Steve followed them in, Danny and EJ right behind him.

There were several loud shouts, mostly from the SWAT team as they subdued the first suspects, and a couple loud gunshots. There was one call of ‘officer down’, but Steve ignored it as he made his way carefully towards the back of the house, clearing rooms as he went. As he turned a corner in the hallway, EJ yanked hard on his vest, spinning him back towards Danny, out of the way just before a burst of gunfire hit where he had been standing. He saw EJ jerk as several bullets impacted her vest before she took cover across the hall.

“Don’t kill him,” EJ ordered, slipping one of the silver knives from the holster, “Cover me.”

“Go,” Steve brought his rifle up and stepped around the corner, firing in the direction the bullets had come from.

EJ came out from where she had taken cover, staying low as she moved incredibly fast down the hall. Steve moved across the hall to where EJ had been and heard a cut-off scream. He and Danny poked their heads around the corner to see EJ knock the automatic weapon from a large man’s grip, the silver knife already stuck through his right hand. Steve moved forward to help her, Danny right behind him, but before he made it to EJ, she punched the man viciously across the face, sending him stumbling to the ground.

“Stay down,” Steve ordered, keeping his gun trained on the man, “Danny.”

“Got him,” Danny leaned down to pull a set of zip cuffs tight around the man’s arms, leaving the knife in place in his hand.

“Status?” Steve asked over the radio.

“ _Two suspects dead,_ ” Grover responded, “ _Five in custody. One of my guys took a hit to the leg._ ”

“We have the last one back here,” Steve replied, “We're all clear then. This guy has a knife stuck through his hand and a probable concussion. Call EMS.”

“ _Already on it_ ,” Grover agreed, “ _You guys okay_?”

Steve looked Danny over carefully, then turned to see EJ leaning against a wall, blood dripping heavily down her left arm to pool on the floor.

“Agent Sheppard’s been hit,” Steve moved over to her swiftly, helping her remove her vest and gun, “Detective Williams and I are fine.”

“Bullet’s lodged against the scapula,” EJ sucked in a breath as Steve pressed a hand hard against her wound, trying to slow the bleeding.

“ _I’ll let EMS know what to expect_ ,” Grover spoke calmly.

“ _You’re going to the hospital this time_ ,” John’s calm voice came over the radio.

“Who gave you a radio?” EJ frowned.

“ _Officer Keona_ ,” John replied easily, “ _Everything work out_?”

“I took four hits in the vest,” EJ answered carefully, “and the one in my shoulder. Only me though.”

“ _Good_ ,” John’s tone was relieved.

“Your husband’s glad you got shot?” Danny questioned when two SWAT officers helped the man he had cuffed out of the room.

“He’s glad no one else got shot,” EJ glanced at Steve, “The situation could’ve been much worse.”

“Am I missing something here?” Steve narrowed his eyes.

“Psychic powers,” EJ snorted as she leaned against Danny for support, “Don’t ask.”


	15. Chapter 15

Steve kept his hand pressed against the wound in EJ’s shoulder as Danny picked up her vest and gun before moving back to her other side. They helped EJ out of the house, where John and his two SWAT shadows were already waiting.

“Here,” John held out a phone to EJ.

“Who…” EJ looked confused as she reached for the phone. She saw the number on the screen and gave John a dirty look, “Not cool, John.”

“What?” John asked innocently as he accepted EJ’s vest and gun from Danny, trading for her pink shirt which Danny pressed against her shoulder, “He called for an update.”

“He just _happened_ to call for an update,” EJ raised an eyebrow, “five minutes after I got shot.”

“Yup,” John smiled charmingly, “I’ll just be over here with Steve while you’re taking to him.”

EJ sighed heavily and held the phone up to her ear, “Hi, Dave.”

John motioned to Steve, moving away from EJ and Danny.

“I need a favor, McGarrett,” John spoke quietly once they were several steps away, keeping EJ in the corner of his vision, “Sort of a big one.”

“Sure. What’s up?” Steve asked softly.

“Someone needs to go with Emma to the hospital,” John explained, “but I need to stay here to check the house for any…advanced tech. She’d be most comfortable with you or Danny.”

“That’s not a problem,” Steve agreed easily.

“It kind of is,” John rolled his eyes, “Emma doesn’t do well with medical personnel. There are certain…precautions you’ll need to take to avoid any unpleasant reactions on her part.”

“Precautions?” Steve inquired cautiously.

“No sedation under any circumstances,” John stated evenly, “Whoever goes with her needs to stay with her the entire time, no exceptions. If at all possible, she needs a female doctor and nurses. They need to keep her informed about what they’re doing. If they touch her without telling her first, she’s likely to react violently.”

“Violently?” Steve raised an eyebrow, “Is that why Corpsman Lyon told her not to punch the nurse at Pearl?”

“Yeah,” John looked over to EJ, “And that was with someone she knew. Whoever goes with needs to be able to handle both her and the doctors. That’s why it’s a big favor.”

“I’ll go with her,” Steve offered evenly, “Least I can do since I’m pretty sure she took bullets meant for me.”

“I’m not sure you would've liked the alternative,” John drawled, “But thanks. If she causes too much trouble, give me a call. Now, I just have to convince her that I’m staying here.”

“Good luck,” Steve grinned as they both made their way back to EJ and Danny.

“I’ll try my very best, Dave,” EJ rolled her eyes, “Here’s your least favorite relative back.”

John accepted the phone EJ held out to him, “Hey, Dave. You tell her to behave at the hospital? Good, she listens to you more than me. I’m sure Cam’s keeping you updated, but I’ll have Emma call tonight to let you know how it’s going. Because you like her better, that’s why,” John looked at EJ and laughed, “I’ll tell her. Bye, Dave.”

“You fight dirty, Sheppard,” EJ glared at him as he hung up the phone and stuck it back in his pocket.

“Only way I know how,” John grinned, “Dave says if you want to divorce me and marry him, he knows a good lawyer.”

“I’m considering it,” EJ scowled furiously.

“Dave, your brother?” Danny wondered.

“Yeah,” EJ pouted, “John tattled on me.”

“To his brother though?” Danny questioned, “What good will that do?”

“Dave likes me better,” EJ snorted, “Plus, part of his job is handling any situations that come up here regarding the program. Apparently, me going to the hospital constitutes a ‘situation’.”

“Speaking of situations, D,” Steve started, “I’m going to the hospital with EJ. I need you to supervise things here.”

“John can go with me,” EJ shook her head, “You don’t have to.”

“Someone needs to be here to look for classified tech,” John stated evenly.

“The containment team can-” EJ frowned.

“I already checked,” John interrupted, “They’re still moving the previous suspects. No one’s available for at least three hours. And before you ask, Edison’s team has their qualification tests today. They’re not available until after 2000.”

“Chin knows-” EJ began again.

“He knows what to look for,” John interjected, “But not what to do with it once he finds it. One of us has to stay here and I’m not the one with a piece of metal lodged against my shoulder blade. I already told Steve all your particular quirks. He’ll take care of you.”

“What’s the big deal?” Danny asked curiously, “It’s just the hospital.”

“Last time I was in a regular hospital,” EJ scowled at Danny, “I knocked four people unconscious with a bed pan and almost strangled a guy with my IV line.”

“Why?” Danny questioned suspiciously.

“They tried to sedate me,” EJ huffed.

“There’s something very wrong with you,” Danny shook his head, then looked up at Steve, “If you’re going with EJ, who’s driving your truck? I’m not driving that monstrosity around the island.”

“I figured I’d just drive behind the ambulance,” Steve looked over to John, who shook his head minutely, “Or not.”

“I’ll ride in the ambulance with Blondie,” Danny rolled his eyes, “Steve can follow us in his truck. Chin and Kono can take of things here.”

“I don’t need-” EJ insisted.

“If you’re sure you don’t mind,” John interrupted again.

“If she’s as bad as advertised,” Danny smirked at EJ, “it might take both of us to keep her in line anyway.”

“Works for me,” Steve agreed.

“I haven’t actually agreed to any of this nonsense,” EJ glared at the three of them as the first ambulance pulled up in front of the house.

“Sure, you did,” John leaned down to give her a kiss as the paramedics came over to join them, “It was in our wedding vows. Something about obeying…”

“I want the name of Dave’s lawyer,” EJ grumbled, “I’m divorcing you and marrying him.”

“Like Dave wouldn’t be ten times worse,” John snorted.

 

_*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*_

 

“I am not getting in that thing,” EJ declared loudly.

“It’s hospital policy, ma’am,” a skinny, dark-skinned orderly said calmly.

“The bullet was in my shoulder,” EJ gestured to the[ black sling holding her left arm still against her body](http://www.breg.com/sites/default/files/product-gallery/Sling-swathe-universal.png), “Not in my leg. I don’t need a damn wheelchair.”

“Sheppard,” Danny pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, “Sit down, shut up, and let the man wheel you out the door or I swear to all that is holy I will shoot you in the foot. Then you really will need the damn wheelchair.”

“But I don’t-” EJ whined.

“Now,” Danny pointed a finger at the chair and EJ sat down with a huff, “Where are the prescriptions Dr. Prosa gave you?”

“Steve took them,” EJ mumbled.

“They’re on the table over there, Detective,” the orderly answered at the same time.

“If I had known you were going to be this big of a pain in the ass,” Danny took the papers from the table, “I wouldn’t have volunteered to go with you. You’re worse than SuperSEAL.”

“I keep telling you,” EJ complained as the orderly pushed her out of the room towards the elevators, “all of this is really not necessary.”

“The nice lady with the medical degree seemed to disagree,” Danny pointed out, “She wanted to keep you here overnight for observation.”

“That’s why AMA forms were invented,” EJ snorted as the elevator doors opened and she was pushed inside.

“Is it too late to leave her here?” Danny asked the orderly with a heavy sigh.

“I’d say no,” the orderly grinned, “but I’m pretty sure the nurses are all terrified of her. Best if you just take her with you at this point.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Danny groaned.

“If you give her one of those pain pills the doc prescribed,” the orderly suggested, “it should knock her out for at least a couple hours.”

“I don’t think she’ll take it willingly,” Danny looked down at EJ as the doors opened on the bottom floor.

“I have a dog like that at home,” the orderly pushed EJ’s chair towards the large glass doors at the front of the hospital, “I usually hide the pill in a piece of cheese. Or smear it with peanut butter. That works too.”

“I’m right here,” EJ sulked, “I can still hear you.”

“Quiet, you,” Danny took EJ’s free hand to help her out of the chair.

“Good luck, Detective Williams,” the orderly called cheerfully as he took the chair back into the hospital.

EJ flipped him off as soon as his back was turned.

Steve came around to open the passenger side door of his truck.

“Leave that on,” Danny swatted EJ’s hand away when she tried to pull the sling off before getting in the truck.

“But-” EJ protested.

“Get in the truck, EJ,” Danny ordered.

“Your partner has a very grumpy disposition,” EJ told Steve as he helped her climb into the passenger seat.

“You get used to it,” Steve grinned.

“He’s mad at you,” EJ informed him.

“What?” Steve looked over to where Danny was getting in the truck behind EJ, “Why?”

“Because, Steven,” Danny slammed the door.

“But I didn’t do anything this time,” Steve shut EJ’s door and walked around the front to get in the driver’s seat.

“We need to stop at a pharmacy,” Danny announced as Steve pulled away from the curb.

“I can take regular Tylenol,” EJ insisted with a pout, “I don’t want to take those heavy-duty painkillers.”

“I don’t care what you want right now,” Danny scowled at her, “and you still have to take the antibiotic.”

“Jersey’s mad at you because you left him upstairs with me,” EJ looked over at Steve, “while you went to get the truck. Apparently, I frustrate him.”

“I can see that,” Steve met Danny’s annoyed stare in the rear-view mirror.

“Pharmacy, Steven,” Danny commanded.

“Can we stop for food too?” EJ asked hopefully, “I’m starving.”

“Sure,” Steve agreed, “We’ll stop by Kamekona’s.”

“After we get the prescriptions filled,” Danny added.

“Yes, Daniel,” Steve rolled his eyes.

“And you will take the damn pills before you eat, Blondie,” Danny pointed the finger-of-doom at EJ, “Or so help me…”

“Yes, Daniel,” EJ parroted.

“Good,” Danny sat back comfortably.

“How long does he usually stay mad?” EJ fake-whispered to Steve.

“Depends on what he’s mad about,” Steve returned the whisper, “I usually keep emergency donuts in the Camaro, just in case he gets really pissed.”

“Maybe we should stop for donuts instead,” EJ grinned, “He seems pretty upset.”

“You two are not nearly as funny as you think you are,” Danny huffed.

“I’m going to call Chin and Kono,” Steve laughed as he picked up his phone, “have them and John meet us at Kamekona’s for dinner.”

“ _Hey boss_ ,” Kono answered after only two rings, “ _You finished at the hospital_?”

“Yes, thank god,” Danny responded loudly, “Tell John his wife is annoying and I want to shoot her.”

“ _Aim for the non-vital parts_ ,” John drawled.

“Thanks, dear,” EJ rolled her eyes.

“Listen,” Steve grinned, “We’re going to stop by the pharmacy to fill EJ’s scrips, then we’re thinking of heading to Kamekona’s for some dinner. Want to meet us there?”

“ _Sounds good_ ,” Chin agreed, “ _SWAT transported the suspects and we took care of all the tech we could find in the house. CSU is finishing now. We were already headed back to the office when you called_.”

“Did you find anything interesting?” EJ questioned.

“ _Some weapons_ ,” Kono answered, “ _a couple tablet looking things, and another of those­­_ -”

Kono was cut off by squealing tires and a loud crash.

“What happened?” Steve yelled.

“Car hit us,” Chin panted, “We’re at-”

There were several loud voices and odd electrical noises, followed by gunshots from what Steve recognized as a large caliber handgun. Then footsteps over broken glass and sudden silence.

“No,” EJ shook her head, eyes widening, “No.”

“ _He belongs to me now_ , _Antiquitas_ ,” a distorted, feminine voice came over the line, “ _I have left the others alive but unconscious. They belong to my islands, after all_. _Say goodbye, handsome_.”

“ _Goodbye, Emmaline_ ,” John answered obediently.

The line went dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger! (I'm not even a little bit sorry.)
> 
> Bonus scene from John's POV starts at the end of this chapter. Contains spoilers for the next several chapters. Here's a link - http://archiveofourown.org/works/1775860


	16. Chapter 16

Steve dialed both Chin and Kono’s phones repeatedly as Danny called HPD to trace their GPS. Fortunately, the crash was witnessed by several bystanders who had already called 911 to report it, so dispatch quickly gave Danny the address. Steve flicked on the lights and sirens, neither Danny or EJ complaining as he dodged in and out between cars, speeding down the streets to get to his team.

Steve pulled up just behind the first ambulance, HPD cruisers already in place moving civilians away and redirecting traffic, a fire truck pulling up next to one of the cruisers. He barely remembered to put the truck in park and yank his keys out before he was rushing towards Kono’s car. The entire back of the driver’s side was crushed inwards, the driver’s window broken and the airbag deployed, both passenger doors flung open and remarkably untouched. There was an old blue minivan with the front end smashed in a couple feet away, the hood smoking, and the driver still inside, unmoving.

Two of the paramedics rushed to Kono and Steve sucked in a breath when he saw the blood running down the side of her face.

“Danny,” Steve ordered, “Find Chin.”

“Yeah,” Danny moved around the car quickly. He bent down and called for the paramedics, “He’s here, alive, unconscious. Bloody nose from the airbag it looks like.”

“Don’t move him,” the older paramedic ordered.  

“How’s Kono?” Steve questioned the closest paramedic as he snapped a collar around Kono’s neck.

“She’s got a gash on her head,” the man responded, “and probably a pretty nasty concussion. Minor lacerations from the window breaking, severe bruise from the seatbelt, and another bloody nose from the airbag.”

“What about the other driver?” Steve turned to look at the young female EMT checking his pulse.

“Dead, Commander,” the EMT shook her head and followed her partner over to Chin, who was just regaining consciousness with a groan.

“Stay down buddy,” Danny patted Chin on the shoulder.

“They zapped me,” Chin moaned, “Kono was bleeding. Is she…?”

“She’s fine, Chin,” Steve assured him, “EMTs are getting her out now.”

Kono groaned as she was placed carefully on a stretcher, her eyes fluttering open as the paramedics strapped her in place.

“Wha’ happened?” Kono tried to look around, voice raising as she realized she couldn’t move, “Chin? _Chin_?”

“I’m here, cuz,” Chin called from the opposite side of the car.

“You were in an accident,” Steve moved into her line of vision.

“No,” Kono insisted, “Didn’t hit the brakes. On purpose.”

“Do you remember anything else?” Steve questioned.

“Fuzzy…” Kono started, “I think I hit my head.”

“All right,” Steve squeezed her hand, “You’re going to go with the EMTs to get checked out at the hospital, okay?”

“Sure, boss,” Kono closed her eyes again as the paramedics wheeled her away.

Danny came back around the car to join Steve, “Where’s EJ?”

“She was right behind me,” Steve turned around to see EJ standing in the middle of the intersection behind them.

They both watched as she made a complete 360, a blank expression covering her face. She finished her circle, then made her way back to Steve and Danny, walking past them silently, her glance sliding over the blue minivan and it’s driver, dismissing both in a matter of seconds before she went around to the passenger side of the red Cruze. Steve and Danny followed her around, watching as she ignored Chin and the EMTs checking him over. EJ bent down to pick up a set of discarded dog tags and a dark silver ring, shoving them both in her pants pocket as she gently kicked over the remains of a cell phone. She bent down once more, picking up a black Colt .45, the slide locked back. She cleared the weapon, then stuck it in the back of her jeans and walked back to Steve and Danny.

“There are six cameras that have a view of this intersection,” EJ spoke flatly, “including the traffic cams mounted on the light. There’s an ATM cam across the street, the one from the bank next to it, a camera in the clothing shop, and another in the jewelry store. Get a hold of the footage as quickly as possible. John got off all nine rounds, hitting at least one assailant. There’s blood a little further down the street,” EJ pointed away from them, “Have CSU rush the DNA sample. No automobile glass, so either he didn’t hit the vehicle or it’s fitted with bullet resistant windows. I need your phone.”

“We can handle this, EJ," Danny reached over to touch EJ’s arm, but she pulled away stiffly, "Why don’t you sit down in Steve’s truck and-”

“Phone,” EJ demanded, holding out a hand.

Steve held out his phone and EJ took it without making contact with his hand, dialing a number as she held it in front of her.

“ _General Mitchell_ ,” Mitchell drawled.

“Colonel Sheppard’s been compromised,” EJ informed him evenly.

“ _What do you mean compromised_?” Mitchell asked sharply.

“Compromised, sir, meaning you need to revoke all his authentication and access codes effective immediately,” EJ replied.

“ _Snaked_?” Mitchell questioned.

“I don’t know, sir,” EJ answered carefully, “There’s nothing at the other end of the _Cultore_ link. It’s still there, but I can’t find him. He’s just…gone.”

“ _I’ll check his tracker_ , _but they probably disabled it again,_ ” Mitchell stated, “ _I’ll let the containment team know_ _and they’ll be on standby whenever you need them. Colonel Baran, if you don’t find him soon_ …”

“Three days, sir,” EJ clenched her jaw, “If I haven’t found him in that time, I’ll go back to the City and break the link.”

“ _I can give you a week_ ,” Mitchell offered.

“Three days, General,” EJ repeated, “That’s what he and I agreed on after we found out about the snake.”

“ _Your choice, Colonel,_ ” Mitchell declared, “ _Keep me updated_.”

“Yes, sir,” EJ hung up the phone and handed it back to Steve, “We have three days to find Colonel Sheppard.”

“Why didn’t you take the week the General offered?” Danny questioned, “It could take us longer than three days to locate him.”

“In three days,” EJ explained calmly, “I’m going back to the City to break his link. After that it won’t matter whether we find him or not.”

“Why wouldn’t it matter?” Danny narrowed his eyes at her.

“Because breaking the link will kill him instantly,” EJ turned away, walking back towards Steve’s truck, “Get those tapes.”

“I’m fine, brah,” Chin insisted, swatting away the EMTs hand.

“Chin, don’t argue with them,” Steve ordered, “Go to the hospital. Let them check you out.”

“I heard what EJ said,” Chin stood unsteadily, “We need to get to work on finding John.”

“We,” Danny gestured between himself and Steve, “need to get to work. You need to go to the hospital.”

“I’m fine,” Chin repeated.

“If it turns out you are fine,” Steve held Chin steady, “You can stay with Kono. They said she has a pretty nasty concussion. Someone needs to be there with her.”

“Okay,” Chin nodded after a moment, “But if there’s anything I can do from the hospital…”

“We’ll let you know,” Steve agreed.

“This is a disaster,” Danny pushed a hand through his hair as the EMTs led Chin away, “A clusterfuck of epic proportions.”

“Yeah,” Steve scowled at the ambulances as they drove away.

“Hey,” Danny grabbed Steve’s arm, turning him so he met Danny’s concerned gaze, “They’ll be fine. Chin and Kono are both tough.”

“I know,” Steve squeezed Danny’s hand were it rested on his forearm, “It’s just…the blood…”

“Your _ohana_ is fine, Steve,” Danny assured him, “They’re okay.”

“Yeah,” Steve let out a relieved breath.

“Come on, Commander,” determination set over Danny’s face, “Let’s get to work.”

 

_*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*_

 

By the time HPD finished taking statements and the accident site was cleared, the sun was already setting. Once the businesses with cameras found out what happened, they were happy to provide their security footage of the crash. Steve and Danny stayed to supervise everything, but EJ grabbed her black duffel from the back of Steve’s truck and told the closest HPD officer she could find to take her back to Five-O headquarters.

When Steve and Danny finally made it back to the palace, EJ was standing in front of the computer table, her sling discarded over a nearby chair. She had changed into a plain black tee shirt and her BDU pants, her Glock and the knives now on opposite thighs. The outline of a heavy bandage was visible on the back of her left shoulder. She had over two dozen functions running on the computer, a single frame of a woman centered on the largest screen on the wall.

“Is that her?” Steve motioned to the woman.

“Commander, Detective, meet the Goddess Pele,” EJ answered without looking up from the computer.

“I was thinking more Wicked Witch, less bikini model,” Danny studied the picture.

“Goa’uld tend to choose their hosts for their beauty,” EJ replied.  

Pele, as she called herself, was a tall, slim woman, curved in all the right places, with a long fall of silky black hair and deep brown eyes. She was dressed in a [simple white suit, the jacket buttoned with a single button, nothing but tanned skin underneath](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/MajorSam/FF_at4.jpg), and [a pair of strappy red heels](http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j56/pathelschoice/resized-red-2--2_zps18319645.jpg).

“Were you able to find anything on her?” Steve questioned.

“Other than what we already know about _Lono-makua_ Inc, no,” EJ tapped on the screen again, adding another search to the ones she was already running, “That host body is probably several hundred years old. I doubt we’re going to find anything.”

“What about Colonel Sheppard?” Steve looked back to EJ, “Did you find anything on the crash footage?”

“She used nish’ta on him,” EJ moved video to one of the screens, “That’s the red colored gas you see. I contacted the SGC, the chemical composition is similar to what we’ve encountered before, but Dr. Lam thinks this variation is enhanced somehow. It spreads much faster than what we’re used to. The effect appears to be almost instantaneous control. You can see him fight it for about twenty seconds before it takes over.”

“That’s good, right?” Danny asked, “If she didn’t snake him, we can just shock him and he’ll be back to normal.”

EJ finally looked up from the table, “An evil alien who is several thousand years old now has control of the man who commands the most powerful weapons known to mankind. He has access to all the knowledge of the race that created the Stargates. He knows all of our tactics, our strategies, our secrets. And to top it all off, he’s precognitive, which means any rescue attempt we make, he’ll likely see coming.”

“Oh,” Danny shrank back slightly.

“Yes, _oh_ , Detective Williams,” EJ sighed, “There are only four people capable of subduing him long enough to shock him right now. If Pele decides to snake him, rather than control him, that number shrinks to one.”

“What do you mean he’s precognitive?” Steve questioned.

“Some Alterans developed different mental abilities,” EJ explained as she looked back down at the computer, “When he was accepted as _Verus Imperator_ , the final dormant portions of his Alteran DNA were activated. He gets visions of the future sometimes.”

Danny’s eyes widened, “Today, when you pulled Steve back…”

“Commander McGarrett was meant to take a bullet in the brachial artery,” EJ tapped on the screen as she spoke, “and bleed out before EMS arrived. However, the future isn’t set in stone and sometimes it can be changed. In this case, I was able to take the hit meant to kill him.”

“He would’ve let you die in my place?” Steve asked quietly.

“We both do what is necessary to protect innocent lives,” EJ replied calmly, “Even if that means we give our lives to do so.”

“Right,” Danny cleared his throat, “So, what do we do now?”

“Now,” EJ looked over as one of the searches pinged, “We go talk to this man.”

“Who is he?” Steve crossed his arms across his chest, looking at the picture of a young brunette man hunched over in front of a laptop.

“That is the only person currently on Oahu capable of hacking into a satellite to track the SGC’s sub-Q transmitters,” EJ explained, “besides Simmons and Hailey.”

“You think that’s how they found him?” Danny asked curiously.

“Pele had the information about our transmitters,” EJ narrowed her eyes, “that she got from the Yakuza. Dr. Greene gave Colonel Sheppard a new transmitter the morning after he was taken the first time, but they all operate on the same frequency. I find it terribly convenient that the only time John and I were separated for more than an hour, he just happens to get kidnapped.”

“You think they’ve been tracking you both the whole time,” Steve scowled.

“I do,” EJ nodded, “I’ve already disabled my own tracker so Jason here won’t notice when I ring his doorbell.”

“Let’s go talk to Jason then,” Steve agreed.

“What about all the stuff here?” Danny questioned, “We still need to go through all the evidence from the accident.”

“There’s a BOLO out for the SUV John was taken away in and I sent an HPD officer over to the hospital with several tablets,” EJ stated, “Chin was cleared medically an hour ago. He’s going over everything else while he sits with Kono. I figured he’d want something to do.”

“How’d you know he was cleared?” Steve wondered, “He hasn’t called us yet.”

“I bribed several of the nurses to keep me updated,” EJ shrugged, “They usually know what’s going on before anyone else.”

“I thought you and John only had one phone between you,” Danny frowned, “It’s crushed in an HPD evidence bag.”

“I had another one in my bag,” EJ pulled it from one of the pockets on BDU pants, “Are you coming with or shall I go acquire a car?”

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to put your sling back on,” Danny eyed her carefully.

“Nope,” EJ held his gaze, “I have things I need my arm for.”

“I’m not even going to ask,” Danny turned to Steve, “Come on, SuperSEAL. You’re driving.”


	17. Chapter 17

When Steve walked up to the door of the small house, he heard loud noises from what sounded like a video game and four distinct voices. He raised a hand to knock on the door, but EJ held a finger to her lips and he stepped back. She knelt down and pulled two black lockpicks from one of the pockets in her pants. Danny rolled his eyes when fifteen seconds later, she pushed the door open silently, already sliding the picks back into the pocket they came from.

Steve and Danny followed EJ as stepped into the house, looking across the small, mostly empty living room to see four college-age guys sitting in folding chairs in front of a huge television screen, a sleek black game console on the floor in front of it. There were several greasy, empty pizza boxes and discarded beer cans spread out in front of the chairs. Each of four guys were holding black controllers, playing some sort of shooting game, yelling insults at each other when one of them died.

EJ stepped over to the wall outlet and yanked the cord out, making all four of the guys shout indignantly, until EJ pulled her gun out, right hand holding it steadily aimed at the man from the picture.

“Quiet,” EJ commanded the four of them, “Mr. Aldric, stay in your seat. The rest of you, leave.”

The three boys stood quickly, practically running out the front door.

“Listen, lady,” Jason held his hands up nervously, “I don’t have anything worth stealing.”

“Her name is Special Agent Sheppard,” Steve moved around to Jason’s right side, Danny to his left, “I’m Commander McGarrett, that’s Detective Williams. We’re Five-O.”

“You’re cops?” Jason looked at the three of them, lowering his hands, “Hey, man, you can’t just bust in here without a warrant. I got rights.”

“Door was wide open when we got here,” Danny gestured to the door, “Maybe one of your little buddies forgot to close it.”

“And it’s ‘sir’ or ‘Commander’,” Steve crossed his arms across his chest, glaring down at the kid, “Not ‘man’.”

“Whatever, _Commander_ ,” Jason rolled his eyes, “I still have-”

“Mr. Aldric, I have very little patience tonight,” EJ stepped closer, holstering the gun, “so let’s get a few things out of the way. You don’t have any rights. You have acted against internationally protected military assets and you’re now considered a terrorist. If you cooperate and answer my questions truthfully and precisely, your immediate future will be slightly less painful. If you lie to me, I’m going to find out exactly how many of your veins I can sever before you bleed out. Do you understand?”

“You can’t do that,” Jason’s eyes widened.

EJ unsheathed one of the knives, slicing through the denim at the inside of Jason’s right knee before he could move to stop her, blood welling up as he flung obscenities at her.

“Call HPD and EMS, Danny,” Steve spoke calmly, “Take your time.”

Danny moved a couple steps away and dialed his phone.

“I thought you were a fucking cop,” Jason screamed, “Cops don’t fucking slice people up.”

“They’re cops,” EJ clarified, “I’m not.”

“What the fuck ever,” Jason yelled, “You still can’t-”

“Stop cursing at me and put your hand over the wound,” EJ ordered, “It’s minor. The next one won’t be.”

“You’re fucking crazy,” Jason held his hand against the bloody spot on his leg.

“No, Jason,” EJ disagreed, “What I am is impatient. I don’t like to repeat myself. Do you understand the rules now or would you like another demonstration?”

“What do you want to know?” Jason glared at her.

“Did you hack a Russian satellite to scan Oahu for a specific frequency?” EJ questioned.

“Is that what this is about?” Jason looked between Steve and EJ, “Yeah, I did. What does Five-O care about a Russian satellite for?”

“Were you paid?” EJ inquired.

“Hundred grand,” Jason agreed, “Transferred into my account from an anonymous source in the Caymans.”

“Did you ever meet the person who paid you?” EJ stepped back half a step.

“No, I got an email on my laptop while I was in class,” Jason shook his head, “Would’ve been…Wednesday morning.”  

“HPD is three minutes out,” Danny came back over to stand by Jason.

“Where’s the laptop?” Steve looked around the house.

“It’s on the kitchen counter,” Jason pointed, “But you can’t take it, I need it for school.”

“Shut up,” Danny smacked him in the back of his head, “What part of ‘you’re now a terrorist’ did you not understand? You’re going to jail, Jason.”

“What were your specific instructions?” EJ slid the knife back into place as Steve moved to grab the laptop.

“I was supposed to monitor the frequency in the email,” Jason explained, “And send an email back to the address when two particular markers separated. Then send an email every fifteen minutes after that they stayed separated. Job was done when one of the markers went offline. Didn’t happen until this morning.”

“Did you try to trace the email?” EJ questioned.

“Of course I did,” Jason scowled at EJ, “I’m not stupid.”

“That’s debatable,” Danny snorted.

“The email was bounced off over a hundred different locations on the island,” Jason stated hotly, “I could’ve gotten the location if I had another week.”

“Here’s what’s going to happen next, Mr. Aldric,” EJ looked out the front window as red and blue flashing lights came filtering through, “EMS will patch up the little boo-boo on your leg, then HPD is going to take you into custody. You’re going to voluntarily give them a complete statement. Some very nice men in military uniforms are going to come pick you up later tonight and take you to a secure facility. If at any point you resist, or if you’re stupid enough to try to contact anyone, I’ll find out and there will be some extremely unpleasant consequences for you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jason agreed as two HPD officers came through the front door.

EJ walked out of the house as Steve tucked the laptop under his arm.

“Have EMS patch up his leg when they get here, then take him to the station,” Steve ordered the closest HPD officer, “Get his statement and keep him separated from everyone else. Someone from the military will be by later tonight to pick him up.”

“Sure thing, Commander,” the officer agreed.

Steve followed Danny out of the house back to his truck, where EJ was already on her cell phone.

“Yeah, any suspicious deaths or disappearances after 2200 Tuesday evening,” EJ spoke calmly, “You’re looking for someone with a heavy computer background and a large deposit into their account around Thursday or Friday of last week. Let me know if you get anything. We’ll stop by later.”

EJ hung up the phone and held up her right hand as Danny opened his mouth, “Before you say anything, Danny, it was an extremely minor wound, barely a scratch. I only cut deep enough to make him bleed. Unless he gets an infection from that petri dish he calls a house, he’ll recover in less than a week.”

“That’s not what I was going to say at this juncture,” Danny insisted evenly, “although I will be speaking to you about that at a later time.”

“I’m haven’t taken a pain pill,” EJ narrowed her eyes at him, “And I’m not going to.”  

“I know you didn’t,” Danny continued patiently, “Because I have your pain pills and antibiotics in Steve’s glove box. We picked them up on the way back to the palace. There is also regular Tylenol in there.”

“I’m fine,” EJ said dismissively, “We need to make another stop.”

“You’re not fine,” Danny argued, pointing a finger at EJ when she opened her mouth to speak again, “No. You’re _not_. You’re going to take the Tylenol and the antibiotic, then we’re going to stop for something to eat on the way to wherever you think we need to go next. You’re going to eat and you’re not going to argue with me or I’m going to let SuperSEAL use his ninja moves to hold you down while I force feed you food with your pills mashed up inside.”

“I’d be happy to,” Steve agreed.

“Two things,” EJ glared at the two of them, “First, I’d have no problem kicking Steve’s ass, even if I am slightly injured. Second, you are a very angry, very mean person and I feel the urge to kick you in the shins.”

“Bring it, Blondie,” Danny snorted as he opened the passenger side door, gesturing for her to get in.

“Screw you, Jersey,” EJ scowled as she got into the truck.

Steve shook his head at the two of them as he walked around to climb into the driver’s seat, handing the laptop to EJ.

“Where we going?” Steve asked as he pulled away from the curb.

“Queens, first,” EJ tapped the laptop, “I want to drop this laptop off for Chin, see if he can get anything useful off it. Also, I assumed you’d want to see Kono and Chin. The doc said Kono was out of the woods. She has a moderate concussion, six stitches along her temple, and some bruised ribs from the seatbelt. They both have black eyes and fractured noses. The doc wants to keep Kono overnight to monitor her concussion.”

“Is that who you were talking to?” Steve wondered.

“It is,” EJ nodded, “Jason didn’t get his assignment until after we retrieved the Colonel Tuesday night. Someone else had to have been tracking us before then. Goa’uld don’t tolerate failure well. It might not lead anywhere, but it doesn’t hurt to check.”

“After Queens?” Danny inquired.

“I need to pay Shiro another visit,” EJ’s expression darkened, “HPD identified the men from the house today as more Yakuza. Either he works for Pele or his men are getting taken out from under him. If he works for Pele, he’s going to tell me where she is. If his men are getting taken, he’s going to tell me where she’s getting a hold of them.”

“You’re so sure he’s going to talk to you?” Danny asked cautiously, “Just because he owes you a favor?”

“No,” EJ spoke calmly, “Because I’m going to ask him… _nicely_.”

 

_*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*SGA*H50*_

 

Steve walked silently into the darkened hospital room, hearing the quiet, steady beat of a heart monitor as he looked over Chin and Kono. Kono was laying in the hospital bed, wearing one of the ugly white and green gowns, an IV line in one arm, and a pulse monitor on one of her fingers. The upper part of her face was an angry swirl of purple and red bruises, with a small white bandage on her left temple. Her breathing was quiet and even, her eyes closed, most likely asleep. Chin was leaning comfortably in a cushy chair, tablets spread out over a couple small tables around him. His face was the same colorful mess as Kono’s, minus the bandage, and he smiled softly and stood when Steve came over.

“Hey, man,” Steve pulled Chin in for a quick one armed hug, “How you feeling?”

“Like I went ten rounds with a minivan,” Chin spoke quietly, “and lost.”

“Kono?” Steve looked towards her again.

“Sleeping, at the moment,” Chin smiled at his cousin, “She’s got a concussion and six stitches on her forehead from the car door. Bruised face and hairline fracture of the nose. She’s been in and out of it since I’ve been here. Doesn’t remember anything after your phone call. She’s pretty sensitive to lights and sounds, so Dr. Prosa wanted her to stay overnight as a precaution.”

“I’ll let her sleep then,” Steve nodded, then gestured to the chair and tables behind Chin, “Where’d you get all the stuff?”

“Apparently,” Chin gave Steve a speculative look, “Someone told the staff here Kono and I were to be treated as nothing less than royalty. Anything we want, they’re supposed to get for us. A couple orderlies brought this incredibly comfortable chair down from the maternity ward. It pulls out into a bed so I can stay with Kono in this very nice private recovery room tonight. I don’t suppose you know anything about all this?”

“I didn’t…” Steve trailed off, then a smile pulled at the edges of his mouth, “EJ said she bribed some nurses to keep her updated. I guess it was more than that.”

“I’ll have to thank her,” Chin sat back down in his chair, “Speaking of, where are Danny and EJ?”

“In the cafeteria,” Steve grinned widely, “Danny’s making EJ eat something and take her medicine.”

“And she’s actually listening to him?” Chin raised an eyebrow.

“Mostly, they’re arguing,” Steve shrugged, “I’m not entirely sure who’s winning.”

“My money’s on Danny,” Chin said confidently, then pointed to the laptop tucked under Steve’s arm, “Is that for me?”

“Yeah, Jason Aldric’s laptop,” Steve handed it him, “There’s an email in there from Wednesday morning. The kid tried to trace it, but it was bounced off a bunch of different locations. A hundred thousand was transferred into his account from somewhere in the Caymans.”

“I’ll mine it,” Chin set it on one of the tables, “see if I can get anything more from it. I managed to find the body EJ was looking for,” Chin handed one of the tablets to Steve, “Name’s Kaila Hale. She was a software designer for a company on the big island. Her body was discovered Wednesday night, all of her fingers broken. COD was massive bleeding into her brain. The ME wasn’t sure what caused it. HPD took her laptop into evidence since it was discovered by her body. They’re bringing it to me now.”

“Let me know if you find anything,” Steve checked his watch, “I'll give this file to EJ.  I’ve got to head back downstairs. We’re going to talk to a Yakuza underboss next.”

“Sounds like fun,” Chin laughed quietly.

“Will you…?” Steve gestured towards Kono.

“I’ll watch over her, Steve,” Chin nodded solemnly, “and I’ll tell her you stopped by.”

“Thanks, Chin,” Steve reached over to squeeze Kono’s hand briefly.

“Good luck with the Yakuza,” Chin looked up him.

“EJ’s pretty pissed off,” Steve snorted, “I don’t think we’re going to need much luck.”


	18. Chapter 18

Steve, Danny, and EJ were once again at the restaurant/casino, but this time EJ led them to the alleyway in the back. EJ slipped the gold badge off her belt, sticking it in her back pocket before she knocked on a thick metal door with no handle and small rectangle door opened just above eye level.

“I need to speak to Shiro,” EJ spoke evenly, looking up at the dark set of eyes peering through.

“Shiro doesn’t talk to cops,” a gruff voice came through the opening, “Go away.”

“Do you see a badge?” EJ gestured a hand up and down her body.

“The guys behind you are Five-O,” the voice scoffed, “Everyone knows that.”

“My name is Lily,” EJ continued calmly, “and I assure you, Shiro will speak with me.”

“I will ask,” the voice informed her.  

“If you’re not back in sixty seconds,” EJ stated, checking the slim watch on her right wrist, “I’m going to blow this door off its hinges and come in anyway. Then I’m going to cut off your ear for making me waste time. Sixty seconds…starting now.”

The rectangle slammed shut.

“I thought you were going to ask nicely,” Danny sighed.

“I gave him sixty seconds, didn’t I?” EJ snorted.

“Did you sneak C4 into one of your pockets while I wasn’t looking?” Steve eyed her carefully.

“No,” EJ answered easily.

“Then how are you-” Steve was cut off by a buzzer and the thick metal door swung open.

“I apologize, Mrs. Samuels,” Shiro greeted her, “Kevin is still learning suitable manners when dealing with clientele. He will be appropriately chastised for his rudeness. Please, come in.”

“Thank you,” EJ inclined her head to him as she walked inside, “I’d like to have a conversation with you in your office.”

“Of course,” Shiro smiled politely, “Will your law enforcement friends be joining us for this talk?”

“They will,” EJ agreed, “But they’re not here in an _official_ capacity.”

“I don’t suppose they would consent to leave their weapons outside,” Shiro asked carefully.

“They wouldn’t,” EJ followed Shiro down the hall, “But I will leave my gun with your men and I wouldn’t mind if your personal bodyguard were to overhear our conversation.”

“Two personal bodyguards, for your two friends,” Shiro smiled again, this time sharper, “And I will leave my gun in my desk.”

“I believe that’s an acceptable arrangement,” EJ pulled her gun out as they stopped in front of a set of double wooden doors. She pulled out the clip, handing the empty weapon to one of the short muscled men waiting in front of the door. EJ stuck the clip in her pocket, then another of the muscled men opened the doors and Shiro gestured for Steve and Danny to go inside.

“Please, have a seat,” Shiro spoke from behind them as the second bodyguard pulled the doors shut, “Would you gentlemen like anything to drink while we talk?”

“No, thanks,” Steve replied evenly, moving to stand where he could see both body guards.  

“I’m good,” Danny stopped next to Steve.

“And you, Lily?” Shiro walked over to a small bar, “I seem to remember you prefer aged scotch. I recently purchased a [thirty year old Hibiki](http://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/hibiki-30-year-old-suntory-whisky/). I’d be happy to share with you.”

“That would be lovely, Shiro,” EJ smiled politely as she sat comfortably in one of the high-backed chairs.

Shiro poured a rich amber-colored liquid from a crystal decanter into two short, heavy glasses, adding a single ice cube to one. He walked back to EJ, handing her the glass without ice before sitting in the chair across from her.

“What did you wish to speak with me about this evening, Lily?” Shiro took a small sip.

“How long have we known each other, Shiro?” EJ took a sip, then leaned back in the chair, crossing one leg over the other and resting the glass on her knee.

“Almost eight years now,” Shiro sat back comfortably.

“A long time,” EJ nodded.

“We were both much younger then,” Shiro laughed as he took another sip.

“You consider us colleagues, right?” EJ asked carefully, “or perhaps business associates would be a better term? Tentative allies?”

“I consider us very good colleagues,” Shiro agreed readily.

“Even though before last week,” EJ continued, “we hadn’t spoken in four years?”

“Of course,” Shiro took a larger sip, “I will always consider you a colleague, no matter how much time has passed.”

“That’s good,” EJ tapped a short nail against her glass, “I was concerned that perhaps our relationship had changed in that time. A lot of other things around here changed.”

“This is true,” Shiro nodded, “But I have always been a flexible man.”

“I’m curious, Shiro,” EJ tilted her head to the side, “If you still consider us colleagues, why did you betray my trust?”

“In what manner did I betray your trust?” Shiro raised an eyebrow.

“Your men took something that belongs to me,” EJ set her glass down on the small round table next to her, “without my permission. You know how I feel about people taking my things.”

“I assure you, if any of my men were foolish enough to steal from you,” Shiro sat straight in the chair, “I will support any punishment you wish to dispense upon them.”

“I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple,” EJ half-smiled, “You see, it wasn’t just the job of one man. I have over a dozen men that belong to you. If it were just one person, I might have accepted the explanation that he was merely stupid. Fourteen men, Shiro, makes me less inclined to believe that excuse. Fourteen men that I _know_ belong to you.”

“I see,” Shiro took another small sip.

“So either your men are loyal to someone else,” EJ uncrossed her legs, leaning forward slightly, “or you and I are no longer colleagues. Which is it?”

“You know what happens to those I consider disloyal,” Shiro spoke carefully.

“I do,” EJ agreed evenly, “And you know that if you lie to me again, I will slit you open from balls to throat.”

Both bodyguards opened their suit jackets, making the automatic guns they carried visible. Steve shifted his stance slightly, readying himself for a fight, and felt Danny do the same next to him, neither of them yet drawing their weapons.

“I have spoken no lies to you this evening,” Shiro insisted.

“Semantics. You have told me no truths either,” EJ's gaze flickered to Danny, then back to Shiro, “I told Detective Williams that I would play nice this evening, Shiro, so I will give you one more chance to answer my questions, truthfully and completely this time.”

“I am telling you as your colleague, Lily,” Shiro cautioned, setting his empty glass down on the table next to him, “You need to let this go.”

“Oh, Shiro,” the disappointment was clear in EJ’s voice, “That was not the right answer.”

EJ surged upwards, drawing and throwing two knives in succession, each hitting one of the bodyguards in right shoulder. She drew the third knife seconds later, pressing the silver blade against Shiro’s throat steadily. Steve and Danny drew their weapons to aim at the bodyguards.

“Don’t even think about it,” Steve ordered.

“Guns on the ground slowly,” Danny commanded.

Both bodyguards, faces showing the pain from their injured shoulders, looked over to Shiro.

“If you try to contact your men outside,” EJ warned, “Your wife will never find all the pieces to your son’s body. Do you understand?”

“Yes, _Shi no hana_ ,” Shiro stated quietly. [Japanese: Flower of Death.]

“Detective Williams gave your men an order,” EJ pointed out, “I suggest you tell them to follow it before he gets angry.  He's mean when he's angry.”

Shiro gave a quick command in Japanese that had both men slowly unstrapping the guns from their bodies, setting them slowly to the ground.

“Kick them away,” Steve ordered.

Both men complied, kicking the guns carefully into opposite directions.

“On your knees,” Danny instructed, the men getting slowly to their knees, “Keep your hands where we can see them.”

“Any sudden moves and my partner and I will fill you full of holes,” Steve informed them. Both men nodded their assent.

“I have been quite generous tonight, Shiro,” EJ finally moved the knife away from Shiro’s neck, “I didn’t kill your men. I even avoided any major veins so they won’t bleed out. There will be some muscle repair needed, but with a little physical therapy, they will recover fully.”

“I appreciate your generosity,” Shiro rubbed a hand over his neck, checking to make sure there was no blood.

“Now,” EJ sat back in her chair, “Tell me what’s going on.”

“I cannot do that, _Shi no hana_ ,” Shiro shook his head nervously, “There are things at work here that you do not understand.”

“I understand better than you might think,” EJ pulled her phone out of pocket, bringing up a photo before handing it to Shiro.

“Oh,” Shiro deflated visibly.

“If you tell me,” EJ offered softly, “I can get rid of her.”

“I’m not sure even _you_ can rid the world of this evil,” Shiro handed the phone back, “But I think you may have a better chance than anyone else.”

“What happened?” EJ asked quietly.

“Things changed,” Shiro laughed bitterly, “Hiro Noshimuri was _oyabun_ for many years, his brother Koji the faithful enforcer. Then Five-O came to the island. Koji was killed by Wo Fat. Hiro disappeared, later to be killed. Then Hiro’s son Adam started dating a cop. He started legitimizing his father’s businesses, selling those he could not to Sato. Hiro’s other son, Michael, returned to the islands, trying to take control, only to be killed by his brother Adam, who then disappeared with his cop girlfriend. Sato prefers to stay in Japan with his family, so there was a power vacuum here on the islands.”

“Which is when this woman approached you,” EJ prompted.

“Yes. She calls herself Pele,” Shiro explained, “At our first meeting, two weeks after Michael was killed, she somehow drugged my men, two of my most loyal, taking control of their minds. She forced me to watch as they violated each other in the worst ways possible, then killed them both with a strange device on her hand. After that, I did what she asked.”

“What did she want from you?” EJ questioned.

“Everything,” Shiro made a sweeping gesture, “She honestly believes these islands and everything on them belong to her.  She wanted all the information we collect from our various sources, a cut of the profits from our less than legal ventures, access to our contacts across the world, even manpower. She uses the drug to control the minds of my men, but not all of them. I have no way of knowing which men are loyal to me and which are loyal to her.”

“And last week?” EJ inquired carefully.

“She was here when you arrived last Thursday,” Shiro nodded, “Reminding me of my obligations to her. We spoke in the security office, where the cameras feeds are recorded. She saw the markings on your arm, your husband’s when he removed his jacket. She seemed almost gleeful when she saw that he had them. She immediately demanded any information we could find on the two of you.”

“I can gather the rest from there,” EJ tilted her head to the side, “You say she was more interested in John?”

“I would say her expression was almost lustful, Lily,” Shiro spoke wryly.

“Do you know where to find her?” EJ asked evenly.

“She…” Shiro cleared his throat, “She has threatened to take my daughter as a plaything. Anna is only fifteen, Lily. If Pele finds out I have spoken to you, my daughter will pay the price. Anna is innocent, she knows nothing of her father’s sins.”

“If you tell me where to find Pele, I will make sure your daughter stays innocent for a while longer,” EJ assured him.

“I do not know all of her hiding places,” Shiro admitted with a sigh, “But I know some of them. I will give you the locations and wish you luck, _Shi no hana_.”

“And in return for your assistance,” EJ smiled, “I will give you some information. Pele’s hold over your men can be easily broken with an electric shock. A simple taser will suffice. Once her hold is broken, the men cannot be controlled the same way.”

“The solution is so simple?” Shiro stood, moving to his desk.

“To the drug yes,” EJ shrugged, “That’s not to say she can’t control them through their families as she has done you. But I don’t think that will be a problem much longer.”

“As you said,” Shiro smiled as he opened a desk drawer, “You don’t like it when people take your things. I was under the impression, from the way you interacted, it was the other way around; that you belonged to John.”

“We belong to each other,” EJ smiled softly as she accepted a file folder from Shiro, “I’ll contact you when she is gone.”

“Thank you, _Shi no hana_ ,” Shiro inclined his head to her.

“One more thing, Shiro,” EJ looked over to Steve and Danny, who were lowering their guns, “I would like you to consider the members of Five-O colleagues as well. Extend them the same courtesies you do me.”

“They are friends of yours,” Shiro agreed with another short nod, “so I will treat them the same as I would you.”

“Thank you, Shiro,” EJ headed towards the door.

Steve and Danny followed as she swung the door open, retrieving her gun from the man outside, putting the clip back in and holstering it as she walked down the hallway. The three of them came back to the thick metal door, which buzzed and swung open in front of them.

As the door swung shut behind them, Danny turned to EJ.

“What does that mean,” Danny asked curiously, “he’s going to treat us as colleagues?”

“As long as you ignore the illegal casino,” EJ explained, “Shiro will provide you with information about any criminal activities on the islands you want to know about.”

“A Yakuza underboss is going to snitch for us?” Danny’s eyes widened.

“He prefers to think of it as eliminating the competition,” EJ shrugged.

“And he’ll give us information just because you told him to?” Danny questioned cautiously.

“He’ll do it because he knows it’s in his best interests to stay on my good side,” EJ clarified.

“What did he call you?” Steve wondered, “Not the name, but the Japanese word. It sounded almost like a title when he said it.”

“ _Shi no hana_ ,” EJ pronounced the words flawlessly, “It means ‘Flower of Death’. That’s what the Yakuza call me.”

“Should I ask why?” Steve asked evenly.

“My alias in Japan was Lily Matthews,” EJ stated, “Hence the ‘Flower’ part. The ‘of Death’ part is…classified.”

“I don’t want to know,” Danny shook his head with a sigh, “I really don’t.”

“Probably for the best,” EJ assured him, “We should head back to the palace…unless you’re going to insist I eat again or something equally ridiculous.”

“Taking ten minutes out of your time,” Danny huffed, “to eat a small meal to refill your energy is not ridiculous. Especially when you’re injured and you need to heal.”

“I heal just fine, Jersey,” EJ insisted as they got back to Steve’s truck.

“I swear,” Danny threw his hands in the air, “It’s like you’re a child. A child with a knife obsession.”

Steve smiled to himself as the two of them climbed into the truck, arguing the entire time.


	19. Chapter 19

Steve pulled open the door to the Five-O squad room, letting Danny and EJ go in before he pulled the door shut behind them. He recognized Edison and his team, dressed once again in their black BDUs, guns strapped to their thighs, waiting for them, as well as a woman, dark blonde hair pulled back in a low, sensible bun, a couple inches shorter than EJ, wearing a set of blue BDUs. The woman and Simmons were using the computer table, chatting quietly back and forth while the other three checked over several different guns.

“Captain Jennifer Hailey,” EJ motioned to the woman, “Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett and Detective Danny Williams.”

“Gentleman,” Hailey nodded at them, then turned back to EJ, “General Mitchell wanted me to let you know the _Apollo’s_ back. There was also a message from Carter. She said the remaining members of AR-1 are being recalled to the City, but it could be close to twelve hours before they get here, not including medical exams and quarantine.”

“Thanks, Hailey,” EJ handed the folder to her, “Possible locations.”

“I’ll ask Colonel Ellis to start scanning the areas,” Hailey flipped the file open to look at the addresses, “Maybe the _Apollo’s_ sensors will be able to find something.”  

“Frankie,” Simmons called over, “You got the things?”

“Yeah,” Lyon grabbed a small black case, opening it to pull out a silver gun mechanism with a long needle attached to it.

“Sign these, please,” Simmons handed Steve and Danny a piece of paper and a pen.

“What are we signing this time?” Danny asked as both he and Steve wrote their names on the bottom of the paper, handing them back to Simmons.

“Giving us permission to do this,” Lyon jabbed the needle of the gun into Danny’s bicep and pulled the trigger.

“OW!” Danny rubbed his arm as Lyon repeated the process on Steve’s arm, “What the hell was that?”

“Your very own subcutaneous locator beacon,” Lyon explained as he stuck EJ in the arm as well.

“Won’t Pele be able to track us now?” Steve questioned.

“Not unless she hired another hacker in the last couple hours,” Simmons shrugged, “And probably not even then.”

“Devon and I upgraded the programming,” Hailey stated, “It runs on a randomly rotating frequency. Unless you have the encryption key we wrote, it’s impossible to tell what frequency to look for.”

Hailey stepped away from the table with the file folder, moving to a quiet corner of the room to tap on the black earpiece in her ear, having a quiet conversation with whoever was on the other end.

“Sit down, EJ,” Lyon commanded, “It’s been a couple hours since you were in the hospital and I’m sure your bandage needs to be changed.”

“It’s fine, Frankie,” EJ shook her head.

“Blondie,” Danny narrowed his eyes at her in warning.

“Jersey,” EJ mimicked his tone.

“Sit,” Danny pointed towards one of the chairs.

“Not a dog,” EJ pouted, sitting backwards in one of the chairs.

“Huh,” Lyon looked between the two of them, “She actually listens to you?”

“After being on the receiving end of Detective William’s wrath once,” EJ rolled her eyes, “I don't care to repeat the experience.”

“Can you take that shirt off by yourself?” Lyon asked as he got his medical kit out, “Or do you want some help?”

“I put it on by myself, didn’t I?” EJ sighed as she carefully pulled the shirt over her head.

The plain black sports bra EJ wore left the colorful bruises on her back visible as Lyon came over to pull the slightly bloody bandage off her shoulder.

“Four hits in the vest?” Lyon probed the bruises gently.

“Yeah,” EJ sat straight in the chair, hands gripping the back tightly, “Doc at the hospital said nothing was broken, just bruised.”

“Shoulder?” Lyon wondered, looking over the livid pink gash held together by black thread.

“Bullet lodged against the scapula,” EJ informed him, “Local to get the bullet out. Layered stitches to repair everything. X-rays showed slight hairline fracture to the bone from impact.”

“I’ll clean it,” Lyon nodded, “Find out if you popped any of these stiches, then bandage it up. You take any pain pills?”

“I made her take some Tylenol,” Danny spoke up, “and the antibiotic the doctor prescribed.”

“He made me eat too,” EJ huffed.

“Poor baby,” Lyon snorted as started cleaning the blood away from EJ’s shoulder, “Be quiet and hold still.”

“I have radios for everyone,” Edison picked up small earpieces from the table, “Since the _Apollo’s_ here, we’re using her communications to cover the entire island.”

“What is the _Apollo_?” Steve asked as he accepted the earpiece, slipping it over his ear.

“One of Earth’s BC-304 intergalactic battle cruisers,” Simmons explained, “A deep-space carrier built with hybrid alien/Earth technology, currently parked in geosynchronous orbit above Hawaii.”

“A spaceship?” Danny put his own earpiece in place.

“A spaceship,” Simmons nodded with a grin.

“Babe,” Danny nudged Steve, “Earth has spaceships. Plural.”

“I heard,” Steve nodded solemnly.

“Ma’am?” Hailey came back to join them.

“Don’t ma’am me when I’m half-naked, Hailey,” EJ ordered easily, “What’s up?”

“The sensors on the _Apollo_ found something interesting,” Hailey moved over to the computer table, “Ellis is transmitting the readings to us now.”

“Define interesting,” EJ swiveled in the chair to face the screens.

“Nothing,” Hailey tapped the computer to show the readings on the screen.

“Interesting,” EJ tilted her head to the side.

“How is nothing interesting?” Danny asked curiously.

“Because this is the satellite image for that same area,” Hailey moved another image to the screen showing a large house surrounded by trees.

“It’s a house,” Danny looked confused.

“Exactly,” Hailey nodded.

“Okay,” Danny looked up the ceiling as he spoke patiently, “Can someone please explain for those of us who are new to the whole aliens and spaceships things?”

“There is a giant blank spot in the _Apollo’s_ sensors,” Hailey explained, “in the exact location of that house.”

“The sensors should be able to detect _something_ , anything really, there,” EJ continued, “But instead, it’s like that spot is completely devoid of any substance detectable by sensors.”

“Which it’s obviously not,” Danny nodded in understanding.

“You think Pele could be holding Colonel Sheppard there?” Steve gestured to the image.

“I think I’d like to get a look at any tech that could block Asgard-based sensors,” Hailey smiled.

“Asgard?” Danny questioned.

“Think Roswell grays,” EJ grinned, “Another very advanced, yet now-extinct race.”

“Someone went to an awful lot of trouble to make that house disappear,” Simmons declared, looking up from the computer table, “There’s no record of it that I can find. Not even an electrical bill.”

“Did the sensors pick up any Goa’uld life-signs anywhere else on the islands?” EJ questioned, “Any other signs of advanced tech anywhere? If we go to this house and Pele’s not there, we lose whatever advantage we may have had.”

“They’re still scanning the rest of the island to make sure,” Hailey replied, “Should be another hour.”

“What’s the plan, Colonel?” Edison turned to EJ.

“You can fly a helicopter, right Commander?” EJ tilted her head to the side again.

“Yeah,” Steve agreed.

“Captain Hailey, find him a place to land close to the house,” EJ ordered as Lyon finished taping the bandage over her shoulder, “How long would you and Simmons need to disable whatever Pele is using to block the sensors?”

“Without her knowing…” Simmons looked at the image.

“And with the size of the house…” Hailey looked at the image, then back to EJ, “You want to keep the tech?”

“It’d be nice to study it,” EJ pulled her black tee back over her head, tucking it into neatly into her pants, “If it’s something we’ve never seen before.  Figure out how she managed to block Asgard sensors.”

“I’d say,” Simmons exchanged glances with Hailey, “Fifteen minutes or so to locate it.”

“Probably another fifteen to disable the device,” Hailey nodded, “Less if we just blow the thing up.”

“Half an hour,” EJ concluded thoughtfully, “I can handle them for that long.”

“Ma’am,” Edison spoke cautiously, “You’ve been injured. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go in alone.”

“What makes you think I’m going in alone, Captain?” EJ questioned.

“You’ve got that crazy-eyed look, ma’am,” Guttman stood, coming over to join the rest of his team in staring at EJ.

“Crazy-eyed look, Sergeant?” EJ raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yes, ma’am,” Simmons eyed her carefully, “It’s the same look the Colonel gets just before he goes on another suicide mission.”

“That look means you’re planning on doing something stupid,” Lyon paused for a moment, “Ma’am.”

“Hailey and Simmons will need a distraction,” EJ put her hands on her hips, “And your team needs to go with them to keep them covered while they do their science thing.”

“You still have SuperSEAL and me,” Danny pointed out.

“No,” EJ shook her head, “This isn’t just raiding a house, Danny.”

“You’re right,” Steve crossed his arms across his chest, “This is infiltrating an enemy compound with the express purpose of getting captured as a means of providing a distraction for your team members.”

“What?” Danny looked between Steve and EJ.

“I’m not sure what gave you the idea that was my plan, Commander McGarrett,” EJ’s expression was carefully blank.

“Operation Glass Slipper was planned and executed by a covert operative,” Steve chose his words carefully, “An operative whose identity was so classified, my team wasn’t even given a codename, only a mission directive. The operative provided a distraction for my team, allowing us to infiltrate and search the compound, acquiring a specific object. I didn’t find out until afterwards what ‘providing a distraction’ had entailed.”

“Then you know exactly why I can’t allow you and Detective Williams to accompany me this time,” EJ stated evenly.

“No,” Steve declared, “I don’t.”

“The covert operative responsible for that op was in the hospital for a week afterwards,” EJ informed him calmly, “This situation is a lot more dangerous. You have no idea what the Goa’uld are capable of doing.”

“I have some idea,” Steve disagreed, “Which is it will just be you and me.”

“Wait a minute,” Danny argued.

“I can’t ask you to do this,” EJ shook her head.

“You’re not asking,” Steve insisted, “I’m volunteering.”

“Do you really understand what you’re volunteering for, Steve?” EJ asked quietly, “What all the possible outcomes are?”

“Death or worse,” Steve agreed softly, “I understand.”

“It’s your choice, Commander,” EJ assented finally.

“Danny,” Steve gestured to his office, “I need to talk to you in private for a minute.”

“Fine,” Danny agreed tightly, walking over to pull the door to Steve’s office open.

Danny was quiet as Steve pulled all the blinds closed, then turned back to Danny expectantly.

“Did you just volunteer to let an alien torture you to death?” Danny asked evenly.

“I doubt it will come to that,” Steve shrugged.

“Are you _insane_?” Danny shouted, hands cutting through the air, “What is _wrong_ with you? Why would you volunteer for something like that? Why is that even part of the plan? We are supposed to be rescuing Colonel Sheppard, not giving this crazy bitch more people to manipulate. I can think of about a hundred different plans that do not involve any of us getting capture or tortured or otherwise injured and… _why_ _are you smiling at me_?”

“Because you’re yelling at me,” Steve smiled widely.

“You’re smiling because I’m yelling at you?” Danny asked incredulously.

“Yup,” Steve nodded.

“You really have lost it,” Danny looked at him like he was crazy.

“You only yell because you care,” Steve reached out to grab Danny by the arms, pulling him close and leaning down to press their lips together softly, “I’m smiling because you love me.”

“You’re such a goof,” Danny shook his head fondly, putting his hand on the back of Steve’s head to pull him down for another kiss, “You love me too, SuperSEAL.”

“Apparently everyone on the island is aware of that fact,” Steve laughed. He deepened this kiss between them, feeling the shorter man open his mouth and sweep his tongue against Steve’s.

“Don’t try to distract me with your wiles, Steven,” Danny finally pulled away to glare at Steve, “If you don’t come back alive and in one piece, you are never, I repeat, _never_ , going to get a piece of this very nice body.”

“It is a very nice body,” Steve swept his gaze up and down Danny.

“All right then,” Danny smirked, “We’ll finish this later. When you’re home.”

“Yes, we will,” Steve swore as he leaned down for another kiss.


	20. Chapter 20

“You fly like you drive, McGarrett,” EJ tucked her long blonde hair under a black beanie as she stepped around the helicopter, “Who the hell taught you how to fly?”

“The Navy,” Steve grabbed his small pack from the back of the chopper before closing it up.

“That explains so much,” EJ rolled her eyes as she checked her weapons.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Steve scowled at her, making sure his own weapons were ready.

“It means,” EJ set off through the trees, “Stick to water things in the future. You don’t do so well with air and land.”

“Do you even know where you’re going?” Steve followed her.

“Of course I know where I’m going,” EJ looked over her shoulder, “I memorized the satellite images.”

“You memorized the satellite images?” Steve asked incredulously.

“I didn’t want to test out your land nav skills,” EJ answered cheekily.

“What’s wrong with my land nav skills?” Steve frowned.

“Nothing,” EJ answered quickly, “I’m sure they’re just as good as your defensive driving skills.”

“I’ll have you know-” Steve started.

“ _Are you two going to argue like this the entire time_?” Danny asked over the radio, “ _Because I’m pretty sure the evil snake bitch is going to hear you from a mile away_.”

“Are you sure it was a good idea to give him a radio?” Steve rolled his eyes.

“Don’t look at me,” EJ snorted, “He’s your partner.”

“Would you believe he distracted me with his wiles so I couldn’t take it away?” Steve smiled.

“Oh, _really_?” EJ stopped to face Steve fully, “Do tell me all about Daniel’s _wiles_.”

“ _Perv_ ,” Danny declared, “ _My wiles are none of your business_.”

“We’d better get going,” Steve grinned, “We’re still three klicks out.”

“Yeah,” EJ nodded with her own grin, “Let’s get this over with so we can sit down and have a chat about Danny’s _wiles_.”

“ _Not happening, Blondie_ ,” Danny swore.

“No fun at all,” EJ sighed.

Steve followed EJ through the trees in the darkness, keeping a steady pace, being careful to leave as little trace as possible as they made their way closer to the house. When they were about half a klick from the house, they ran into a patrol, dispatching the two men silently and dragging the bodies away from their route. Steve was pleased to note that the skills he had learned as a SEAL were still ingrained in his muscle memory.

Steve and EJ stopped at the edge of the tree line, looking over at the house with a small pair of night-vision goggles.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to point out,” Steve whispered into the radio, “This would be the perfect situation in which to use a rocket launcher.”

“ _Shut up, Steven_ ,” Danny ordered dryly.

“You sure these things are going to work Hailey?” EJ checked over her gun again.

“ _Relatively_ ,” Hailey responded easily.

“Wow,” EJ exchanged a quick glance with Steve, “I never realized how very _not_ reassuring that was.”

“ _I’d give it about a sixty-four percent chance, ma’am_ ,” the amusement was clear in Simmons’ voice.

“ _Just shoot as many of them as you can_ , _ma’am_ ,” Hailey suggested wryly.

“Seriously?” Steve sighed heavily.

“If I die…” EJ looked up at the clear night sky.

“ _You’ll probably just re-spawn just like Dr. Jackson_ , _ma’am_ ,” Lyon laughed.

“You’re all fucking fired when this is done,” EJ swore under her breath, then looked to Steve, “Ready, Commander?”

“Re-spawn?” Steve raised an eyebrow.

“Long story, don’t ask,” EJ put the goggles away and checked her watch, “Thirty-five minutes, Cap. Three, two, one, mark.”

“ _Mark_ ,” Edison repeated, “ _Have fun storming the castle_.”

“Bring you back a tee shirt,” EJ smiled as she shouldered her gun.

EJ nodded to Steve, then they both stepped out of the tree line, weapons ready. They made their way swiftly across the open area, shooting down the first four men without any resistance. As they made their way closer to the house, more men started coming out the doors on both levels of the house, firing zats in Steve and EJ’s directions.

“Either they weren’t expecting us,” EJ fired off several more rounds, downing more of the guards on the balcony, “Or they want us alive.”

“At least the weapons are working,” Steve shot three more men coming out of the lower door.

“As far as we know,” EJ grinned and moved forward towards the door while Steve covered her.

EJ pulled two flash-bangs from her vest, pulling the pins and tossing them through the doorway. She moved to the side as Steve moved forward, turning his head at the last second to protect his eyes from the light. He followed EJ into the house, again going to the right as EJ went to the left. Steve spared less than half a second to glance around the large open room, opulently furnished in warm shades of red, orange, and white.

Steve took cover behind an over-stuffed chair, looking over to see EJ ducking behind the couch a short ways away from him. He heard the electrical crackle of zats being fired towards them as EJ clicked her radio in a pre-determined sequence, pulling the Glock from her thigh as she pointed upwards. Steve followed her finger to see a large crystal chandelier and nodded with a grim smile. He held up three fingers, counting down quickly before they both popped up, Steve shooting towards the men with zats as EJ fired two shots into the chain holding the chandelier up. The men still standing underneath tried to scatter out of the way as it came crashing to the ground around them. Steve managed to shoot all but two of them before the glass exploded around them.

EJ stepped over the glass quickly, her Glock already back in the holster and her rifle back against her shoulder, shooting the two men that had fallen under the glass. Steve heard three clicks over the radio and looked over to see EJ nod at him grimly.

“I know you’re here, Pele,” EJ yelled as she started up one side of the grand staircase, Steve making his way up the other, “Release Colonel Sheppard and I’ll kill you quickly.”

There was no response as Steve and EJ started making their way down one of the long hallways, Steve in front and EJ behind him.

“Listen, you repulsive, arrogant bitch,” EJ shouted as they started clearing rooms, “I’m going to find you one way or another. If you make me waste time looking for your stupid ass, it’s going to make me cranky.”

“Wouldn’t want you to get cranky,” a lazy drawl accompanied a loud click from behind them.

Steve whirled immediately, weapon ready, only to find EJ holding completely still, John pressing a silver Browning Hi-Power against the back of her neck.

“Put your weapons down, Commander McGarrett,” John ordered evenly, “Slowly.”

“Let her go,” Steve countered, “You’re not going to shoot your own wife.”

“You obviously don’t know me very well. Colonel Baran,” John kept his eyes on Steve, “Tell the Commander to disarm or I’m going to put a bullet through your brain stem.”

“John, please,” EJ pleaded, “This isn’t you. You don’t have to-”

“Now,” John pressed the gun harder against her neck.

“Commander,” EJ spoke quietly, flicking her glance behind him.

Steve heard footsteps coming down the hall and turned slightly to see several men with zats come up behind him.

“All right,” Steve moved his finger away from the trigger, “There’s no need for violence.”

“Says the man who shot a dozen men getting in here,” John stated dryly.

Steve unclipped the MP5 from his vest, laying it gently on the ground, then reaching carefully for his Sig Sauer, placing it next to the MP5 and raising his hands.

“Your vest, your radio,” John commanded, “and your back up piece.”

Steve undid the straps on his vest, pulling it over his head and adding it to the pile on the floor before lifting up the bottom of his black cargoes, taking off the entire holster that contained his back up gun.

“That’s it,” Steve pulled the earpiece from his ear on tossed it to the ground with everything else, “There’s nothing else.”

“Cuff him,” John ordered the men behind Steve.

Two of the larger men came forward, one of them holding a set of thick silver cuffs connected by a heavy chain. One of the men pulled Steve’s arms in front of him and snapped the cuffs tightly in place while the other kept his zat trained on Steve.

“And now you, Colonel Baran,” John stepped back out of EJ’s range, but didn’t lower his gun, “Disarm. Keep in mind, I know you. If you try anything, Commander McGarrett dies instantly.”

“You do know me, John,” EJ unclipped her MP5, setting on the ground next to Steve’s, “Just like you know this is wrong. You are being controlled.”

“Less talking, Colonel,” John ordered.

EJ unzipped her vest, placing it on the ground, adding the black Glocks she carried on each thigh, one at a time, to the growing pile. She slipped the earpiece off and threw it on the pile.

“Knives,” John commanded, “All of them.”

EJ reached behind her back for a long black knife, behind her belt buckle for a short silver one, and in her right boot for a slim black knife, setting all three of them carefully on the ground and raising her hands.

“Cuff her,” John ordered the last of the men.

“Chains, John? Really?” EJ sighed heavily as the men snapped the cuffs in place.

“These will take you at least ninety seconds to pick,” John finally lowered the gun, slipping it into the holster on his belt, “ _If_ you get out of them before someone here kills you, you deserve to get away. Follow me.”

Steve watched as John led the way back down the hallway, going across the top of the stairs to the opposite hall.

“Where are we going?” EJ questioned, “Perhaps a dungeon to go with these chains?”

“My Mistress wants to speak with you,” John answered calmly, “I’d suggest you behave from now on.”

“There are so many things wrong with that statement,” EJ shook her head, “I don’t even know where to start. Firstly, you used the word ‘Mistress’, which is just plain ridiculous.”

One of the men behind EJ shoved her forward and she stumbled slightly as she continued, “Shove me again and I’ll break your fucking nose. Secondly, saying she wants to ‘speak with me’ is not entirely accurate. More likely, she wants to ask me questions then have one of her goons torture me when I don’t answer to her satisfaction. You know, typical cliché behavior for an ugly snake-head bitch.”

The man shoved EJ again on the last word. This time she didn’t stumble, instead throwing her elbow high, smashing it violently into the man’s face, the crack of bone loud as she broke his nose. She moved quickly, ducking under the second man’s grip and moving around to kick him behind the knee, wrapping the chain around his neck as he fell to his knees, pulling it tight as John pulled his gun out once more.

“Thirdly,” EJ drew the chain tighter, the man now gagging for air, “There is absolutely nothing wrong with my behavior.”

“Release him,” John aimed the gun at Steve, but kept his eyes on EJ, “Immediately.”  

“You aren’t going to shoot him, John,” EJ switched her grip slightly, snapping the man’s neck and dropping him to the floor, “Your bitch of a Mistress wants to talk to us both.”

“That was stupid, Emmaline,” John changed his grip, hitting EJ across the face with the butt of the gun, “He was one of my Mistress’ most trusted.”

“Why do you think I snapped his neck?” EJ spoke defiantly, bruise already forming on her face around the bloody gash high on her cheekbone, “One less snake for me to kill later.”

“I told you,” John wrapped his hand around the front EJ’s neck and shoved her hard against the wall, “to behave yourself.”

“I am behaving,” EJ insisted evenly, “Maybe you should’ve be more specific.”

“Let me be extremely clear this time,” John leaned closer, tightening his grip on EJ’s throat, “If you do anything like that again, Commander McGarrett will be the one to pay the price. You’re not the only person capable of inflicting a great deal of pain, _Chaos_. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” EJ gasped out the word.

“Good,” John released her suddenly, turning to the man still kneeling on the floor holding his bloody nose, “And you, get your stupid ass up. You’ll be punished later.”

“Yes, sir,” the man scrambled up.

“You good?” Steve asked quietly as EJ rubbed a hand across her throat.

“Good,” EJ nodded shortly.

“How touching,” John drawled, “Let’s go.”


	21. Chapter 21

John led them to the end of the hallway, opening a set of double doors at the end to reveal a large room, decorated again in shades of red, orange, and white. There was a huge bed in the center of the far wall, four dark wood posts rising towards the high ceiling, holding up sheer white curtains that parted to reveal dozens of pillows and sheets in white silk.

“Stay here,” John ordered once Steve and EJ were in the center of the plush white carpet. He moved forward in the room, ducking his head respectfully as he spoke, “ _Dominae_ , I have brought the intruders to you.”

“Thank you, beloved,” a distorted feminine voice came from behind a partially opened door, “I’m just getting changed. I’ll be out in a moment.”

“Don’t get changed on my account,” EJ called, “I don’t give a shit what you look like. Do you give a shit what the bitch looks like Steve?”

“Nope,” Steve replied easily.

“Hold your tongue,” one of the men behind EJ and Steve ordered.

“Oh good lord,” EJ rolled her eyes, “Here we start with the clichés already. How am I supposed to ‘hold my tongue’, you imbecile? Shall I just grab it between my fingers? Or am I supposed to use some sort of device to hold it?”

“Be quiet,” John commanded.

“See?” EJ looked over her shoulder to the man who gave the original order, “That was what you meant to say. ‘Hold my tongue.’ Moron. You obviously weren’t hired for your brain power.”

“You are fiery,” Pele laughed as she emerged from behind the door. She was wearing a [long, red silk night gown, black lace detailing across the low-cut top and along the high slit over her left leg](http://api.ning.com/files/HHqPzGJXFww%2ahBYwHlI8ryCWdS1oBDhbxKa32U0%2ayekMLe7b78Ix6DLAuDIjLxelL7ysLIzJfF6vkFPekmDjKqJDxZQnkP7E/le_tresor_silk_gown.jpg?width=338&height=475). A silk robe of the same color was tied loosely around her waist and there was [gold on each of the fingertips of her right hand, another band of gold wrapping up around her forearm](http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130609132355/stargate/images/5/53/Khorel_kara_kesh.JPG). Her chocolate brown hair fell in loose, wet curls down her back as she strode forward to face Steve and EJ. In her bare feet, she was only a couple inches shorter than Steve, a good four inches taller than EJ when Pele came to stand in front of her.

“You’ve been injured,” Pele pulled the black beanie from EJ’s hair, tossing it to the ground before she gripped EJ’s chin with the gold-tipped fingers of her right hand, tilting EJ’s face to one side, “What a shame to mar that pretty face. What happened?”

“She killed Laka,” John answered evenly, “and broke that idiot’s nose.”

“And you hit her in punishment.  Very well,” Pele released EJ’s chin to look over at the men with the still bleeding nose, “And this one?”

“Shoved her forward as we were walking in the hall,” John explained, “Colonel Baran told him that if he shoved her again, she would break his nose. He didn’t listen.”

“I see,” Pele nodded, looking at the two uninjured men, “Take him away. Impress on him proper manners, then get his face fixed. If you can’t make him look pleasant, find something for him to do out of my sight.”

“Yes, _Dominae_ ,” the two men grabbed the third by the arms and dragged him out of the room.

“You’re entirely right, _Antiquitas_ ,” Pele turned back to EJ once the doors closed behind the others, “I didn’t choose him for his brains. He was quite handsome, before you marred him, and has such lovely muscles.”

“I hope you’re not expecting me to apologize for that,” EJ raised an eyebrow.

“No,” Pele smiled sweetly, “After all, you did give him a fair warning. Let me do the same for you. You’ve already killed two of my trusted. If you harm any more of them-”

“Let me stop you right there,” EJ interrupted, “I’ve been threatened by far worse than you. There’s nothing you can say that will convince me not to kill all of the snake-heads I find.”

Pele took a step back, moving out of the way as John backhanded EJ across the face.

“I don’t like rudeness,” Pele spoke calmly, “Do not interrupt me, child.”

“I was never a child,” EJ held Pele’s gaze, “What do you want from us? You wouldn’t have ordered us captured alive if you didn’t have something planned.”

“Maybe I just wanted to see what the splinter in my finger looked like,” Pele suggested.

“Then you wouldn’t have kept Commander McGarrett alive,” EJ replied.

“Maybe I have plans for the good Commander,” Pele shifted her gaze to Steve, looking him over from top to bottom.

“Then John would’ve killed me when I snapped that guy’s neck,” EJ rolled her eyes, ““Please don’t insult my intelligence.”

“You’re quite right,” Pele smiled, “I do have plans for both of you. Commander McGarrett will be infected with my nish’ta and sent back to his life. Having the head of the Five-O task force answer to me will prove to be quite useful, I’m sure.”

“Never going to happen,” Steve insisted.

“I’d prefer not to mark you before you go back,” Pele looked over to Steve, “But there are many other ways to hurt you, Commander. Keep that in mind.”

“And me?” EJ drew Pele’s attention again, “You can’t use the nish’ta on me, it won’t work. And I’m not leaving here without John.”

“I could use your body as a host,” Pele countered, “Then you would no longer have a choice in the matter.”  

“I’d be discovered as a host before I got anywhere near the Stargate,” EJ argued, “You’d have to keep me here on Earth. I wouldn’t last very long here.”

“As a host, you would be much stronger,” Pele considered, “Your body able to sustain more damage, heal faster.”

“I can take plenty of damage,” EJ snorted, “and I already heal faster than a normal person. I’m stronger than most people of the same size. That’s not what I was referring to when I said I wouldn’t last on this planet.”

“What did you mean, _Antiquitas_?” Pele questioned.

“Do you know what an [Ashrak](http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Ashrak) is?” EJ asked carefully.

“Of course,” Pele nodded.

“I was something similar for the humans,” EJ replied evenly, “I’m wanted in over three dozen countries. There’s a price on my head in most of the Eastern hemisphere. It was only recently that my situation changed in this country.”

“Shiro told me you were extremely dangerous,” Pele said thoughtfully, “I didn’t realize he was being serious.”

“The only reason I haven’t killed Shiro yet,” EJ informed her, “is because he is still useful to me.”

“That leaves me very few options,” Pele ran a finger down the side of EJ’s face.

“There’s really only two ways this is can end,” EJ spoke evenly, “Either I kill you, painfully if you keep touching me without my permission, or you kill me, in which case I ascend and wipe you from existence.”

“Except that if you ascend, _Antiquitas_ ,” Pele laughed and slapped EJ across the face with her empty hand, “There are rules. The Others will stop you.”

“I guess I’ll just have to kill you in this life,” EJ shrugged.

“You forgot one option,” Pele gestured to John and he moved to a small table at the side of the room, “I keep you here, drugged heavily so you can’t escape, and have you tortured for the information you hold.”

“You could,” EJ agreed, “But it’s not going to end well for you.”

“We’ll see,” Pele turned to Steve, getting less than an inch from his face and exhaling a small cloud of red gas, “I am your Mistress now, Commander McGarrett, and you will refer to me as such. You will be loyal to me above all others.”

“Yes, Mistress,” Steve nodded slowly.

“Good boy,” Pele reached down, using the gold device on her hand to unlock the chains from Steve’s wrists, letting them clatter to the floor, “Come kneel before your new _Dominae_.”

“Yes, Mistress,” Steve moved to kneel beside Pele.

“Oh, yay,” EJ rolled her eyes again, “I was afraid we were going to have to skip the whole ‘kneel before your master’ cliché. Glad you worked that in.”

“I’m glad you’re amused,” John walked back over, holding a needle filled with a clear liquid, “You’ll love this next part.”

“I’m sure I will,” EJ snarked as John stuck the needle in her arm and pushed the plunger.

“This drug was developed by a dear friend of mine,” Pele stroked a hand over Steve’s short hair, petting him as she spoke, “He modified it from-”

“I don’t care about the backstory,” EJ interrupted, “It’s truth roofies. Won’t make a difference, I’m still not going to tell you what you want to know.”

John grabbed EJ’s left shoulder, squeezing tightly on her wound and pushing her to her knees.

“My _Dominae_ doesn’t like to be interrupted,” John moved his hand away from EJ’s shoulder, revealing bloody fingers, “Show her some respect.”

“I only give respect to those who deserve it,” EJ took steady breaths, “A parasite hiding inside a human body pretending to be a Goddess and forcing others to do her bidding doesn’t deserve respect. If you wanted me on my knees, John, all you had to do was ask. Even though I do enjoy it when you get all dominant. Wow, yup, drugs kicked in.”

“Interesting sensation, isn’t it?” Pele asked pleasantly.

“Being pushed to my knees?” EJ grinned, “Normally, yes, it’s quite interesting. I would greatly enjoy this particular sensation under other circumstances. I don’t enjoy the pain in my shoulder, however. I hate getting shot. Jen’s going to be mad when I get back to the City. She gets upset when I get shot. Not that I get shot all the time, although, now that I’m thinking about it, I’ve been shot more often since I came to the City than I did-”

“I was referring to the sensation of the drug,” Pele interjected.  

“Now that’s not fair,” EJ pouted, “If I’m not allowed to interrupt you, you shouldn’t be allowed to interrupt me. And you should have been more specific about what you were taking about. You can’t get specific answers if you don’t ask specific questions. Where was I? Oh yeah, Jen. She’s going to lecture me for an hour about getting shot. And impaled too, but that wound's already halfway healed. I did mention I heal fast, didn’t I? I’m special like that. Are you going to ask me any questions or did you want me to just keep talking? ‘Cause I can keep talking if you want.”

“How many others of your kind know I’m here?” Pele questioned.

“There are no others of my kind still alive,” EJ responded easily, “Unless you count John, in which case there’s only two of us. But I don’t see how him knowing makes a difference since he’s still under control of your nish’ta at the moment. I was a little surprised, at first, that you didn’t snake him, then I figured out that you’re not actually a queen. That’s why you get so upset when one of them dies. You have no way to replace them. That’s also why you have no Jaffa left after all these years, no [prim’ta](http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Prim'ta) to replace the mature symbiote. I assume that’s also why you haven’t tried to take over more than just these islands. You simply don’t have the manpower to control more than what you already do.”

“You’re stalling,” John wrapped his hand around EJ’s neck again, “Aren’t you?”

“Of course I’m stalling. Don’t be stupid, John,” EJ spoke angrily, “You’re better than that. This is why you shouldn’t use nish’ta, Pele, or whatever you want to call yourself. You took a brilliant strategic mind and turned him into a puppet. You’ve taken away his self-control and replaced it with your control. While that unleashes the darker parts of his personality, it diminishes his capacity for logical thought.”

“I don’t need him to think,” Pele insisted hotly, “I need him because of his genetics. Once he has served his purpose, he is expendable to me.”

“Hear that, John,” EJ looked up at John finally, “Once she’s done with you, she’s going to kill you. And since you’re such the obedient little soldier right now, you didn’t bother to ask what she wants you for.”

“My _Dominae_ has bestowed upon me a great honor,” John released EJ, “I am to be the father of her new host.”

EJ burst out laughing, “Oh, John. Rodney is never going to let you live this down. Another alien woman that wants to have your babies. How many does this make? Let’s see, there was Chaya, Teer, Mara, Larrin, and now Pele. You’re lucky I’m not the jealous type, _carissime_.”

“Enough!” Pele shouted.

“I guess you are the jealous type,” EJ smirked, “John likes to flirt, Pele. He doesn’t even know he’s doing it ninety percent of the time. When he does turn that charm up on purpose, let me tell you, it’s quite the heady experience. He had me half in love with him before I even knew what was happening.”

John punched EJ across the mouth, “She said enough. Why are you stalling? Is someone else coming to rescue you?”

EJ spit a mouthful of blood onto the carpet, “No one else is coming.”

“Then why are you stalling?” John grabbed EJ’s chin in a hard grip, forcing her head up to look at him.

“You can’t see it, can you?” EJ met John’s gaze curiously, “You’ve tried, but you can’t. Because using your mental abilities requires a certain amount of self-control that you no longer have.”

“Why are you stalling?” John let go of her chin to grip her shoulder again, squeezing tightly.

“Sixteen minutes, fifty-three seconds. I’m not stalling anymore,” EJ smiled widely, looking away from John to Pele, “Either you are incredibly stupid or you made several very large mistakes today, Pele. I’m thinking it’s actually both.”

“I am a Goddess,” Pele’s eyes flashed white, “I am superior to you in every way.”

“No, you’re not, you brainless twit,” EJ spat the words, “You’re a parasite. You underestimated me, dismissed the warnings you received about me, even when one of those warnings came from my own mouth. You took my husband away from me, made him into a shadow of what he really is in an attempt to control him. You threaten and manipulate to get what you want, demand respect rather than earning it. You’re overconfident, relying on your technology to make people believe you’re more powerful than you really are. But do you want to know what the biggest mistake you made today was?”

“Be quiet!” Pele yelled, raising her right hand, the red crystal in the center of the golden device glowing.

Steve shifted slightly, very carefully moving his hand into his pocket.

“You’re biggest mistake, you arrogant bitch,” EJ smiled dangerously, “was to let me in this room. You should’ve killed me when you had the chance.”

Steve pressed the small remote in his pocket. John’s body jerked before collapsing to the ground as the chains on EJ’s cuffs snapped, the thick metal around her wrists falling to the ground. Steve extended his leg, sweeping Pele’s feet out from underneath her as EJ rushed forward, grabbing her right hand and slamming it to the ground, the red crystal dimming as it cracked in half. EJ punched Pele across the face twice in quick succession, dazing the taller woman. Steve reached over to John, grabbing his gun from the holster and aiming it at Pele just as the bedroom doors burst open. Danny, Hailey and Edison’s team burst in, P90s ready in front of them.

EJ wrapped a hand around Pele’s neck, squeezing hard to hold her steady as she landed more punches across her face, each one punctuated by a harsh word, “John. Is. Not. Yours.”

“Emmaline!” John reached over to grab EJ’s fist before she hit Pele again, “Stop. She’s out. I’m fine.”

“I’m very cross with you, John,” EJ huffed, letting him pull her off the now unconscious woman’s chest.

“I know, _dulcis_ ,” John wrapped his arms around EJ, tucking her head into the crook of his neck and shoulders as they sat on the floor.

“My shoulder hurts,” EJ complained into his shirt, “and my face hurts. And my knuckles are starting to hurt too. Bitch has a hard face. And I’m finding it extremely difficult to block everyone else’s emotions out now. I’m getting a migraine and I just _know_ someone’s going to make me get checked out in the infirmary again.”

“What’s up with her?” Danny asked curiously.

“Truth roofies,” Steve shrugged.

“Ah,” Danny nodded, looking over Steve carefully, “You okay?”

“SuperSEAL had it easy,” EJ looked over to Steve, “All he had to do was kneel in front of her and get petted like a cat. I was the one who got beat up.”

“She pet you?” Danny questioned evenly, “You let the evil bitch pet you like a kitty?”

“Captain Hailey,” John’s mouth twitched into a smile, “You’d better get the snake-head up to the _Apollo_ before Detective Williams decides to punch her too.”

“Yes, sir,” Hailey grinned.


	22. Chapter 22

The next afternoon after Kono was released from the hospital, Steve and his team gathered at his house, Steve and Danny relaying the story of what happened inside the house with Pele. Kono was stretched out comfortably in Steve’s recliner, Chin sitting closest to her on the couch while Steve and Danny sat close to each other on the other side of the couch.

“So the rounds you were using…?” Chin asked curiously.

“Something Hailey and Edison’s team came up with,” Steve explained, “I guess they have these things called in’tars that fire something sort of like a simulation round. Hailey modified the rounds to emit an electrical charge on contact to take care of anyone under the effects of nish’ta, then Lyon added a sedative to keep everyone else unconscious.”

“While SuperSEAL and Blondie were busy causing a commotion inside,” Danny continued, “Me and the others got, I kid you not, _beamed down_ outside, like we’re in an episode of Star Trek. We started making our way through the house all quiet-like until we got to the basement. The whole thing was filled with all kinds of weird alien equipment. Apparently, whatever was blocking the sensor signal thing was of ‘Ancient origin’,” Danny made air quotes accompanied by an eye roll, “so basically all they had to do to turn it off was to think ‘off’ at the thing, which is why it took them way less than the thirty-five minutes we planned on.”

“What about John though?” Kono wondered, “You didn’t have weapons when you got to him, right?”

“Sticky fingers,” Steve smiled, “Simmons made a couple stronger rounds, able to be triggered by remote. EJ provoked John into getting close enough so she could slip a couple in his pocket. We each had a remote in our pocket, just waiting for the right time to trigger it.”

“What about the part where this psycho was petting you?” Danny turned to Steve, “I’ve yet to hear why that was a good idea.”

“Their docs replicated the nish’ta and infected me before we left, in case she tried to use it on me. I had to pretend to be under her control otherwise things could have been a lot worse,” Steve paused then smirked at Danny, “What’s the matter, Danno? You jealous?”

“Am I jealous?” Danny questioned, “Why would I be jealous?”

“You can admit it if you are,” Steve leaned back on the couch, dropping an arm on the back of the couch behind Danny, “We’re all friends here, you can tell us.”

“Let me tell you something, Steven-” Danny started only to be cut off by Steve’s phone.

“McGarrett,” Steve answered, still smirking at Danny.

“ _Hey, SuperSEAL_ ,” EJ greeted him pleasantly, “ _Anyone besides your team at your house right now_?”

“No, why?” Steve answered warily.

“ _Thanks_ ,” EJ hung up.

“That was weird,” Steve hung up his phone, sliding it back into his pocket.

A bright wash of light filled the room, then John and EJ appeared. John was dressed short-sleeved black BDUs, American flag patch in place on one shoulder, the same empty upside almost-triangle on the other, his Colt .45 strapped to one thigh and a strange cylindrical weapon strapped to the other. He had a stack of folders in one hand, the other linked together with EJ’s. EJ was dressed in the black BDU pants, Glock and strange weapon in a mirror-image of John’s, but she had on a fitted black tee-shirt instead of a uniform shirt, her black sling again holding her left arm immobile across her body. The cut on her cheek was held together by two small butterfly bandages and other already healing bruises on both sides of her face were clearly visible with her long, blonde hair up in a simple ponytail.

“Hi guys,” EJ smiled brightly at them.

“Told you,” Danny pointed a finger at John and EJ, looking over at Chin and Kono's stunned faces, “Like Star Trek. Beam me up, Scotty.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Chin raised an eyebrow.

“I can’t believe I missed the spaceship,” Kono pouted, “That’s just not fair.”

“What are you guys doing here?” Steve asked, pointing to the folders John held, “More things for us to sign?”

“No, actually,” John handed Chin, Kono, and Danny each a folder with their name on it, “We’re heading back to the City tonight, but Emma wanted to stop by to say good-bye and give you a few things before we left.”

“I realized that I had gotten Steve a thank you gift, but not the rest of you,” EJ raised a hand at Danny’s open mouth, “Before you tell me it wasn’t necessary, I used to make a shit-ton of money before I started at the SGC. I don’t have any use for it, so it either sits in an account doing nothing, or I use it to buy things for my friends. It’s not in any way charity, just some stuff I thought you might enjoy.”

“Besides,” John interjected, “figuring out the right things to give each of you kept Emma mostly out of trouble in the infirmary.”

“Did you try to throttle anyone this time?” Danny asked evenly.

“No, Jersey,” EJ sighed heavily, “I did not try to throttle anyone.”

“She made three nurses and two doctors cry,” John drawled, “ _after_ the truth roofies wore off. You don’t even want to know what she did while she was still under the influence.”

“Anyway,” EJ glared at John, then turned to Kono, “Kono, your present will be delivered sometime in the middle of next week. I have a…business associate who customizes shoes. You’ll be getting a pair of nude-colored Louboutin pumps and a pair of black Prada motorcycle boots, each with a concealed mini-taser in one heel and a small, detachable knife in the other heel. Also a pair of red strappy sandal heels from Jimmy Choo that don’t have any special purpose other than being super cute. There’s pictures in the folder. If they don’t fit or you don’t like them, just call the number there, and my associate will take care of it.”

“Oh my god,” Kono looked at the pictures in the folder, “These are _gorgeous_. A mini-taser in the heel. I can’t wait to try them out.”

“Chin,” EJ motioned to his folder, “A technician will be by the Five-O offices first thing Monday morning to install new hardware for you. He’s putting in next-gen crystal based tech that won’t be available outside the SGC for another five years at least. He’s also going to upgrade your security, making the Five-O servers basically unhackable by anyone on Earth. You all got the sub-Q transmitters yesterday and Hailey switched the four of you to a different encrypted frequency, so you'll be able to use them to locate any of your team members anywhere in the world at any time.”

“When did they get transmitters?” Steve wondered curiously.

“In the hospital,” Chin answered as he look over the technical specs in the folder, “A nurse in a uniform came by and made us sign a waiver. This is really advanced tech, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“That’s because it’s alien-based,” EJ clarified, “Same designs they use on the _Apollo_. It’s at least twenty times faster than what you have now. The tech will leave a direct number for you to call if you ever have any problems with it.”

“What about me?” Danny questioned, flipping open his folder, “A new car perhaps, something along the lines of a nice red…”

Danny trailed off as he looked at the papers in the folder.

“Danny?” Steve asked cautiously, “What is it?”

Danny set the folder in Steve’s lap and stood up to walk over to EJ, wrapping his arms around her for a big hug.

“I thought that would be best for you,” EJ returned Danny’s hug with her one good arm, “even though it’s not really for you.”

“Thank you,” Danny replied quietly as he pulled away, rejoining Steve on the couch.

“What is it?” Kono wondered.

“A trust-fund in Grace’s name,” Steve read the papers in the folder, “set up to pay for her college education. Tuition, housing, books, everything she could ever need for any college in the world, all taken care of.”

“Grace is brilliant, Danny,” EJ smiled softly, “She’s going to do great things.”

“You don’t have to tell me that,” Danny returned the smile, “She’s my little girl.”

“And how you spawned that smart, beautiful child is a complete mystery to me, Jersey,” EJ rolled her eyes, “She must take after her mother.”

“Shut it, Blondie,” Danny grinned.

“There’s one other thing,” John pulled two flash drives from his pocket, “Not really presents, but you’re going to need them.”

“What’s on the drives?” Steve questioned.

“That one,” John tossed him the first one, “is everything the CIA has on an operative named Doris McGarrett, codenamed Shelburne, as well as some information on her from a few alternative sources.”

“How did you know about my mother?” Steve narrowed his eyes.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about her, Steve,” EJ answered carefully, “You need to be careful around her, even if she is your mother.”

“This one,” John tossed the second drive to Steve, “is everything we could find on Wo Fat from every government we could access.”

“Wo Fat is in a supermax facility in Colorado,” Danny looked between John and EJ, “locked up in solitary. Unless you know something we don’t.”

“Not definitively,” John replied vaguely.

“You think Wo Fat’s going to escape from supermax?” Chin inquired calmly.

“I think that I’ve been held a lot worse places than Colorado,” John shrugged, “No place is completely inescapable.”

“I tried to have Wo Fat moved to a more secure SGC facility,” EJ stated evenly, “but my request was denied. He doesn’t know anything about the program, so they won’t take him.”

“You’re going to need that information soon, McGarrett,” John gestured to the drive in Steve’s hand, “I wish I could be more specific, but it doesn’t really work like that.”

“Psychic powers, right?” Danny raised an eyebrow.

“It’s best if you don’t ask,” EJ linked the fingers of her right hand with John’s left, leaning her head against his shoulder, “We have to get going. They’re dialing the ‘gate in half an hour. After this week, I’m ready to go home.”

“Back to your sentient alien City?” Danny wondered.

“Yup,” John agreed easily, “Have to make sure nobody blew it up while we were gone.”

“Did you ever figured out what Pele wanted with John?” Kono asked curiously, “Steve didn’t give us a reason when he was telling the story.”

“Would you like to tell them, _carissime_?” EJ raised an eyebrow at John.

“Not really,” the tips of John’s ears pinked.

“Pele wanted have John’s babies,” EJ grinned, “She wanted him to father a daughter so she could have a pretty new host with the Ancient gene and the genetic memory of a Goa’uld. Create a genetically advanced host so she could better control all the tech she had in the basement.”

“You got kidnapped because you’re... _pretty_?” Kono bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.

“There was more to it than that,” John insisted.

“Not really,” EJ shook her head, “You got kidnapped because you have the Ancient gene and you’re pretty. That’s pretty much it.”

“Wow,” Danny started, “That’s just…wow.”

“Apparently, it’s not the first time an alien woman has kidnapped Sheppard for his,” Steve looked John over, “special genetics. I understand there were quite a few others.”

“Oh really?” Chin asked with a grin.

“John thought it was a great honor,” EJ nodded.

“I was being mind-controlled,” John insisted, “I obviously wasn’t thinking straight.”

“He wasn’t the only one not thinking straight,” Steve smirked, leaning back on the couch again, “I seem to remember something about someone enjoying the sensation of-”

“Did you tell Kono she won the pool?” EJ interrupted quickly, “Since you and Jersey finally pulled your heads out of your asses and made out like a couple of teenagers before we left for Pele’s house.”

“It’s about damn time,” Kono grinned widely, “Dinner’s on me next time, guys.  I just came into a nice wad of cash.”

“I thought you were leaving,” Danny glared at EJ, “Don’t you have someplace to be, Blondie?”

“We’re going,” EJ laughed, “If you guys ever change your minds about leaving the islands, give the SGC a call.  We could use your team.”

“Maybe in a couple years,” Steve wrapped his arm around Danny’s shoulders and pulled him closer as he looked around at his team, “I think we’re all pretty happy here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was a lot of fun to write. A huge thank you to all the people who gave me suggestions and encouraged me when I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with this. Hope you enjoyed it! 
> 
> Questions, comments, and kudos are always appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my tumblr - truestargoddess- for Stargate related things!


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